The Hindu Business Line : Air India grounded, Brand Bapu flies high

The services sector has blossomed into one of the most important advertising sectors in our economy. Telecom, financial services, hospitality and travel are just a few categories that have grown exponentially and hold out the promise of even more growth.

Yet, as a wise marketer once remarked to me, while the FMCG or durables sectors can bank on their products to carry their image and brand promise to the consumer, the services sector has a huge human quotient that could make or mar the brand.

Actually, even the durables sector needs to fine-tune its after-sales experience to ensure repeat purchases and word-of-mouth publicity, but in the case of services, humans count more than most other variables. Five-star hotels can ensure their product is in mint condition. New properties, great restaurants, spas and swimming pools can be built and maintained at great cost, but one trainee steward who mars your special evening out will have your tongue wagging about how sloppy the hotel experience was.

Similarly with airlines, and Air India is a case in study where it has been a classic shuffle of one step forward and two steps backwards.

Sure, the airline industry is going through a difficult phase with almost all the iconic brands struggling to stay afloat. Yet Air India, which began life as one of the more promising airlines in the world, slipped into a government-run morass of delays and inefficiency that gave the brand the hiding of a life time. Just when everyone was beginning to write a requiem for the beleaguered Maharaja, the Civil Aviation Minister, Praful Patel, somehow managed to push through a plan to buy new aircraft for the airline which was operating one of the oldest fleets in the business by then, and actually raised hopes of a Phoenix-like recovery.

I recall summoning up all my patriotic reserves and flying one of the new 777s that Air India had introduced, to New York and back. I was in for a pleasant surprise. The new aircraft made a world of difference, as I was sure it would. The cabin crew consisted of a set of sprightly young things who ran up and down offering good food and beverages throughout the non-stop flight from Mumbai to New York. Gone were the stately “Auntiejis” (whom I quite liked for their caring nature) we normally associated with Air India. Young aircraft and crew, state-of-the-art audio and video equipment, excellent ground handling and the good food which Air India always served, made the flight a rather nice experience.

Yet, the human factor is what is proving to be the undoing of the brand again.

Years of governmental management has made every operational staff into a maharaja, or a maharani. The babus who run the airline like it is their ancestral property, or that of the Ministry, are maharajas. Someone seems to have forgotten that this is the age where the customer is king. Air India is a ‘Raj ’ where everyone except the customer is a king. The latest labour dispute where flights were cancelled much to the great inconvenience of customers is a classic example of brand destruction.

Quite honestly, the sight of an executive pilot holding out a pay slip and indexing figures in his examples of how much the pay cuts would result in was rather pathetic. One was glad to see that Air India allowed a professional to be the face of the airline on the news channels. Yet all of Executive Director, Jitendra Bhargava’s eloquence could not make up for the woeful depths our TV news channels (at least the English ones I saw) have reached. And this is yet another example of where human resource development should help in brand building. I was shocked to see anchors of the three top English news channels letting the representative of the executive pilot’s association lead them on a joy ride around the block as he talked about pay slips that indicated that the poor pilots were earning only Rs 6,000-Rs 7,000 after the cuts imposed by the management. Not even the prompting from Bhargava could make a single newscaster ask a simple question to the loud Captain Bhalla. “What do you earn per month, Sir?” His answer would have settled the entire matter, as people like him earn somewhere in the region of Rs 5-6 lakh per month. I would be very worried flying in an aircraft piloted by such a worthy.

Yet, as long as Air India tolerates such rampant indiscipline and wanton misinformation by senior staff, they are making their brand building efforts a hugely uphill task. New aircraft, route rationalisation and good advertising are all great inputs. Yet, one incident like this where no one except the customer is penalised will put paid to all other good measures.

Brand Bapu

Mont Blanc is supposed to manufacture fine writing instruments. Its brand extensions range from after-shave lotions to cuff links. With pens costing upwards of several thousands of rupees, it enlisted the support of a rather surprising brand to endorse it – Mahatma Gandhi.

A recent special edition of pens had Gandhiji’s portrait etched on the nib and was accompanied by a high-profile publicity blitz. One heard a spontaneous howl of protest. The arguments centred on the use of Bapu as an advertising symbol for such an elitist product.

Actually, there are some other fundamental issues involved. Who really owns Brand Bapu? I would love to have some views on this issue. (Write to brandline@thehindu.co.in.) When a person evolves from Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to Mahatma Gandhi and lives in millions of hearts, who decides how to use his name and image for commercial purposes?

I recall writing an advertisement for the Khadi and Village Industries Commission several years ago where I had used a picture of Jawaharlal Nehru (it was his birth anniversary) and quoted him saying, “Khadi was the livery of the freedom movement”, or words to that effect. It resulted in me spending an hour at the office of the C.I.D. where I was accused of contravening some Act that prohibited the use of names and pictures of national figures such as Gandhi and Nehru for commercial purposes. I really doubt that Act has been repealed. Apart from that, how does one deal with a global icon who represents certain values? Who, if at all there is someone, should decide how and where such a brand can be used? I am certainly not advocating any governmental regulation, but it is certainly a point worth pondering.

(Ramesh Narayan is a Mumbai-based communications consultant)

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