Sky pie: Desi airlines join advertising warfare

In a bid to grab the attention of travellers in the crowded skies, domestic airlines are upping their advertising and marketing spends while adopting innovative measures to stand out.

As domestic airlines spread their wings to international markets and connect to newer destinations in the country, over Rs 350 crore would be spent by domestic players alone through advertising and marketing activities in 2007, as per industry estimates. Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines top the charts with spends of over Rs 100-125 crore each.

Among low-cost carriers (LCC), Air Deccan leads the way with ad and marketing spends in the range of Rs 30-32 crore, followed by SpiceJet at Rs 18-20 crore. Premier carrier Paramount Airways, which plans to enter the western market next year, claims to have earmarked total ad and marketing communications spend of Rs 50 crore for 2007-08.

Even Air India, which spent mere a Rs 5 crore for advertising last year, has set aside around Rs 20 crore this year, with major chunk being directed towards its new international destinations. For Delhi-based IndiGo, the ad spend for the year remains at modest Rs 10 crore.

Apart from usual ad spend in print and TV, Jet Airways for the first time is organising road shows in the country and abroad to showcase its new first class and business class product offerings. There would also be specific campaigns in the domestic market as it upgrades its aircraft with the latest in-flight entertainment systems, Jet Airways marketing vice-president Gaurang Shetty told ET. SpiceJet, a low cost carrier, is also looking at reaching out to travellers through the TV. Similarly, JetLite, in its new avatar, is set to launch a new campaign by mid-September, highlighting its positioning as a value-based carrier.

“Our point of differentiation would be that we are the only LCC to offer food at no additional cost, and with full-fledged frequent flier programme,” said JetLite’s acting chief executive officer Garry Kingshott. Others like Paramount Airways are looking at using the internet extensively to target corporate clients. “Over 30-35% of our bookings come through the internet. We are seriously evaluating online advertising particularly through portals targetted at corporates. We have increased our total ad and marketing communications spend from Rs 40 crore last year to Rs 50 crore this year,” said Paramount Airways MD M Thiagarajan.

Air India, which has been doing several ad campaigns in the print media and outdoors centered around its recently launched Mumbai-New York non-stop flight is now planning to unveil TV commercial next month. The airline is planning to tap radio and internet for advertising internationally. The ad and marketing buzz can only get louder in the coming months as the peak travel months kick in. “Airlines have to come out with smart campaigns to stand out in the crowd,” said a senior advertising industry professional.

While the bulk of ad spend by airlines goes to schedule, promotions and brand related communications, many are devising newer ways to connect to travellers. For instance, Kingfisher Airlines is partnering with MSN messenger, wherein you can book tickets while you chat on the messenger. The MSN messenger will have the Kingfisher Airlines logo, which will direct you to their website.

Kingfisher is also launching an offline tool named King Click, which will act as a desktop personal travel assistant storing your past travel itinerary. King Click will also provide all the information available on the website without being connected to the net. “We are focussed on innovative brand building exercises to catch the consumers attention in their comfort environments,” said Vikram Malhotra, dy GM, marketing, Kingfisher Airlines. Internationally, South West Airlines provides a similar kind of tool.

Source: ET