NEW DELHI: In 2006, when global advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy took on the task of building a new, cool airline brand from scratch, their peers laughed. Indian passengers, the conventional wisdom went, cared only about price, and no amount of branding could change that. "Today, they don't ask us that question anymore," says Mohit Dhar Jayal, MD, Wieden+Kennedy Delhi.
Despite launching squarely in the budget airline segment, IndiGo promoter Rahul Bhatia and his agency were clear about their goal: IndiGo would be the third cool international budget carrier after JetBlue and Southwest Airlines of the US.
And it's got there. According to aviation expert Rajan Mehra, IndiGo now carries more corporate passengers than leisure travellers. "The mix of corporate and holiday travellers for IndiGo has increased to 60:40," he says.
This transition in positioning and perception was the result of a very conscious plan put together by the brand and agency. At the time of launch, print and outdoor media were used to focus on launch markets, with the tagline "Ready for take-off".
The airline's first TV commercial was clearly targeted on a first-time or at least infrequent traveller, describing how IndiGo made the process easier. But quite soon, focus was switched to customer touch points - everything from the design of the safety instruction card, to the availability of a boarding ramp instead of a staircase, to the packaging of in-flight snacks were aimed at being more engaging, while still on-brand. This was the crucial phase when the voice of brand IndiGo would speak directly to the passenger, drawing attention to the high standards of service.
"The real challenge was the transition to the new ideology and clientele because low-cost carriers behave in a certain way. They wear the 'common-man' badge, like say Air Deccan. Once that was overcome, the position only evolved," recalls V Sunil, executive creative director, W+K.
The next stage was a subtle switch to target the corporate passenger by emphasising on-time performance. One of IndiGo's most popular TV commercials in 2010 featured a musical-style depiction of the link between making its processes more efficient and getting its passengers to their destinations on time. A voiceover added: "When we get our work done on time we become the world's most powerful economy on time; on time is a wonderful thing."
Indigo's outdoor advertising of new flights also emphasises their value to the business traveller, focusing on metro routes and frequency. Today, it has companies like Airtel, Coca-Cola, the Tata Group, GSK and the Aditya Birla Group signed up as corporate clients - giving them a premium seat allocation and on-board meal bundled with each ticket purchased. Global brand consultancy firm Wolff Olins feels that IndiGo's high service standards are the key to its share of the corporate travel market. "For a business traveller, IndiGo stands for reliability. It then stands for low cost," says Zia Patel, Wolff Olins India strategy head.
But like all market leaders, there is now tremendous pressure of expectation. Anand Halve, founder of communications consultancy firm chlorophyll points out: "When you start slipping on things, people start noticing. They have a huge lead compared with rivals and so a margin of error too, but not for long." Fresh competition from AirAsia could mean trouble as well. "The biggest mistake that IndiGo could do is to ignore AirAsia. They should not let AirAsia prove that the latter could be better. The focus should be to enrich, extend and deepen the brand," Halve added.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-03-20/news/37872611_1_indigo-promoter-rahul-bhatia-business-traveller-brand
Despite launching squarely in the budget airline segment, IndiGo promoter Rahul Bhatia and his agency were clear about their goal: IndiGo would be the third cool international budget carrier after JetBlue and Southwest Airlines of the US.
And it's got there. According to aviation expert Rajan Mehra, IndiGo now carries more corporate passengers than leisure travellers. "The mix of corporate and holiday travellers for IndiGo has increased to 60:40," he says.
This transition in positioning and perception was the result of a very conscious plan put together by the brand and agency. At the time of launch, print and outdoor media were used to focus on launch markets, with the tagline "Ready for take-off".
The airline's first TV commercial was clearly targeted on a first-time or at least infrequent traveller, describing how IndiGo made the process easier. But quite soon, focus was switched to customer touch points - everything from the design of the safety instruction card, to the availability of a boarding ramp instead of a staircase, to the packaging of in-flight snacks were aimed at being more engaging, while still on-brand. This was the crucial phase when the voice of brand IndiGo would speak directly to the passenger, drawing attention to the high standards of service.
"The real challenge was the transition to the new ideology and clientele because low-cost carriers behave in a certain way. They wear the 'common-man' badge, like say Air Deccan. Once that was overcome, the position only evolved," recalls V Sunil, executive creative director, W+K.
The next stage was a subtle switch to target the corporate passenger by emphasising on-time performance. One of IndiGo's most popular TV commercials in 2010 featured a musical-style depiction of the link between making its processes more efficient and getting its passengers to their destinations on time. A voiceover added: "When we get our work done on time we become the world's most powerful economy on time; on time is a wonderful thing."
Indigo's outdoor advertising of new flights also emphasises their value to the business traveller, focusing on metro routes and frequency. Today, it has companies like Airtel, Coca-Cola, the Tata Group, GSK and the Aditya Birla Group signed up as corporate clients - giving them a premium seat allocation and on-board meal bundled with each ticket purchased. Global brand consultancy firm Wolff Olins feels that IndiGo's high service standards are the key to its share of the corporate travel market. "For a business traveller, IndiGo stands for reliability. It then stands for low cost," says Zia Patel, Wolff Olins India strategy head.
But like all market leaders, there is now tremendous pressure of expectation. Anand Halve, founder of communications consultancy firm chlorophyll points out: "When you start slipping on things, people start noticing. They have a huge lead compared with rivals and so a margin of error too, but not for long." Fresh competition from AirAsia could mean trouble as well. "The biggest mistake that IndiGo could do is to ignore AirAsia. They should not let AirAsia prove that the latter could be better. The focus should be to enrich, extend and deepen the brand," Halve added.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-03-20/news/37872611_1_indigo-promoter-rahul-bhatia-business-traveller-brand
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