State-owned carrier Air India, under attack for its poor product and services, and steadily losing market share to private carriers, is now pulling out all stops in an aggressive multi-pronged branding campaign to reposition itself by keeping the peak holiday season in mind.

To attract passengers, the airline has come out with its latest print campaign titled ‘Jaldi Jaldi,' offering discounted fares for domestic travel on tickets bought in advance. It also introduced an extension of its short term promotion scheme Silver and Platinum Pass in September.

Moreover, capitalising on the huge footfalls, the airline also for the first time promoted its ‘Maharaja' brand through billboards and cut-outs at the recently concluded India International Trade Fair and Formula One race in Greater Noida. In addition, the airline has launched advertisement campaigns on television and the Delhi Metro and also increased the frequency of its brand promotion in films , said Air India spokesperson, Mr G.P.Rao.

Airline's performance

The marketing blitz comes in the wake of the airline reporting an improved performance in October in terms of increase in passenger carriage and revenue, and also a top management revamp with Mr Rohit Nandan taking over as the airline's Chairman-cum-Managing Director in August replacing Mr Arvind Jadhav.

Passenger carriage

According to a company statement, the airline's passenger carriage increased by 5 per cent and passenger revenue grew by 4.2 per cent in October.

Mr Rao said, “After our successful advertising campaign for the 777 long haul flights, there was a lull as we had to take account of several issues including finances. But now, owing to our improved performance and increased budget for advertising and marketing, we are going all out with our brand repositioning. This is meant to go hand-in-hand with substantial improvement in our services such as our on time performance which has reached 90 per cent by October end. The new CMD's vision is also geared towards these efforts.”

The airline in the coming days would be increasing its brand visibility even more and launching new schemes for frequent flyers, as it wants to tap into passengers planning their holiday travel for the peak season and make them aware of its new offerings. “In addition, it would also help us get a better ‘roll on' to the lean season. The trade fair campaign provided huge visibility to our brand in front of a crowd of about 40 to 50 lakh spread over the 14 days but it cost us only under Rs 5 lakh, so we would be looking to target more such events with high footfalls,” added Mr Rao.

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