JetMadam Articles

I know what you’re thinking. A website by the name of JetMadam.com definitely walks a thin line between industry scandal and marketing genius.

Controversial by design, the brand new multiple jet-listing site is intent on making buyers, sellers, brokers, and everyone in between think (and look) twice. Laced with innuendo and intrigue, the name alone has been generating a healthy buzz in and outside of the industry. Contrary to what it might infer, the female-driven enterprise is all about class - and selling jets of course.

Conceived by founder and president, Tina Bartel (who has some serious marketing and jet acquisition experience under her belt), the idea arose not so much as a divine marketing scheme, but out of a desire to revitalize what Bartel considers to be a tired, idea-starved industry.

“Most of the sites in the industry are very vanilla,” she says. “We needed a catchy name that would be easily recognizable by a lot of people in the industry - not just buyers and brokers, but peripheral people like pilots, mechanics and FBO personnel. The industry has stayed so stoic and conservative. We picked the name because no one was taking advantage of what other luxury industries openly embrace - which is sexual innuendo.”

Based on a small market study the company conducted early on in their planning stages, very few jet buyers polled had any qualms with the suggestive bent of the site. Turns out there aren’t too many negative things to say about the beautiful women/beautiful jet combo, especially when spearheaded by women intent on doing it with style. Despite the industry’s reputation for being something of an old boy’s club, and many brokers’ desire to remain conservative, Bartel found that actual buyers are anything but traditional.

“I think any time that an industry keeps trying to do things the way they always did it, it stagnates the industry.” Bartel says. “Any fresh thought - whether its wing design or marketing - moves the industry forward. And in today’s economy, I truly believe that any company who thinks the old way of doing things will succeed is at risk.”

Jet Madam’s fresh approach is immediately apparent. On the homepage, right between links for ‘Jet Brokers’ and ‘Free Jet Listing’ is ‘Photo of the Month’, a fun and highly visual monthly contest pairing beautiful women with beautiful Gulfstreams, Learjets and Citations. Each Friday, a ‘model’ is eliminated based on that week’s total number of votes, and a new photo added, culminating in a monthly winner.

The site is also big on user-friendly functions. That means a minimum of clicks to get where you want and no registration requirements. Each time users search an aircraft, they’re automatically redirected to Jet Madam’s sister site, JetList.com, what the company is touting as the ‘more conservative side of the family’. There, users can search over 2,500 listings, build a personal comparison list using the printable ‘My Hangar’ function, add free listings or check out customized Dealer Pages. If one is more interested in the aforementioned photos, they can simply return to Jet Madam.

“For the most part, Jet Madam is just a way for people to get to Jet List.” Bartel explains. “But even Jet List is non-traditional in that it’s geared more for the buyer. On most sites, you’ll see a lot of focus on terminology that buyers don’t understand, photos that buyers don’t care about - close-ups of the avionics for example. That’s a major disconnect. That’s presuming that the buyer wants stuff they don’t necessarily understand. There’s nothing wrong with giving that information but it shouldn’t be thrown in the buyer’s face, alienating them from the whole purchasing experience. It isolates the very people we’re trying to encourage to be involved.”

The company’s slogan, “You know you want to look!” seems to sum it up pretty well. In an industry where the majority of news that crosses our desk involves improved weight modification or composite designs, to see a marketing concept really pushing the envelope is very intriguing.

[Blue Sky News www.blueskynews.aero published on January 27, 2011]

Only stuffed shirts would have a problem with a private-jet broker who incorporates "fun, efficiency and originality" into her business. That said, it's unclear what exactly Tina Bartel is selling after you stumble onto her website. Her John Wayne Airport-adjacent service is described as "ambitious, bold and slightly scandalous." Then you can click onto a page and vote on which photo of a shapely female model next to a private jet is best. Not helping matters at all is the name of Bartel's firm: Jet Madam. "Charlie Sheen on line one."

[OC Weekly www.ocweekly.com blog published on February 23, 2011]