Let’s face it, modern commercial aviation is the equivalent of traveling by bus in the 80s or, worse yet, moving cattle. From arriving three hours early to get through security to endless flight delays, it’s time-intensive, inefficient, and unpredictable. For family-owned business leaders, time is often your most valuable commodity, and commercial airlines treat your time like Monopoly money.

On the other hand, you have private planes, which are basically a DeLorean fitted with a ‘flux capacitor’ for rent. You waltz in, sip on La Croix while they whisk you through security, and you’re airborne before you can say “can I get a bag of peanuts.” You’re defying the tyranny of airline schedules, while managing opportunity cost.

Workaholics rejoice! These things are basically flying offices. Slap on some noise-canceling headphones, fire up the Wi-Fi that doesn’t make you long for AOL, and you’ve got a cloud-based conference room at 30,000 feet. Land, step off the plane, and you’re ready to win the day, while your competitors flying commercial are still battling jet lag in baggage claim.

Private aviation is not only a luxury, it’s also time traveling. It bends the very fabric of your schedule, letting you traverse time zones and squeeze that extra meeting into your day that staying in one time zone just wouldn’t allow. Just remember, with great time travel power comes great responsibility. Use it wisely to be more productive or spend more time with family and friends.

A Swift Shift: Your Customers Need a Time Machine

Forget chasing the latest marketing trend, the future of branding isn’t about these fleeting fads. Like flying private, it’s about becoming a time machine for your customers.

Think Netflix. In the beginning they saved you a trip to the store, and today, they do more than deliver content to you over the internet- they’ve bent time. Netflix allows you to watch your favorite shows when you want, where you want and in a sequence of your choosing. Further, it thinks for you, recommending shows that you ‘may also like.’ Eliminating commercials alone is a major time saver. Suddenly, tuning to broadcast TVfeels like trying to get a license at the DMV. Netflix has become a portal, whisking us past the inefficiencies of the present and into the future.

That’s the power of the Time Machine Brand. You don’t just sell a product, you sell a time jump. Think about it:

  • Private aviation? Family-owned Moyer Aviation is working to make corporate and personal travel more accessible and more convenient – speeding executives to hard-to-reach destinations and bringing family together more frequently to strengthen bonds.
  • Disaster restoration? AllRisk Disaster Restoration, operated by first and second generation leadership uses its 25+ years of subject-matter expertise and ‘know how’ to help business owners swiftly navigate insurance reimbursement and clears the way to getting facilities, factories and offices up and running with minimal business disruption.
  • Clinical Trial Packaging? Xerimis’s second generation sister- and brother-in-law are helping early stage drug developers speed their product through clinical trials and to market, by helping to guide every step of phase-1 through phase-3 clinical packaging.

Here’s the rub: this isn’t smoke and mirrors. It’s about focusing on the core value you deliver and amplifying it into a future benefit. How does your product or service help your clients avoid future headaches, achieve future goals, or simply feel like they’ve cheated time itself?

The Time Machine Brand is a loyalty machine. Clients who experience a future benefit today are more likely to stick around, because who wants to go back to the bad old days? They become brand evangelists, raving about how your product catapulted them into a better tomorrow.

So ditch the tired brand refresh cycle. Stop chasing the next marketing fad. Become the time machine your clients crave. Because in the ever-accelerating business landscape, the only constant is the future. And the brands that own it, own the game.