Airline marketing

AIRLINE MARKETING MODULE INTRODUCTORY COURSEWORK A OPTION 1
CITY UNIVERSITY LONDON

“TOO MUCH CONTEMPORARY AIRLINE ADVERTISING IS DISHONEST,
BORING, STEREOTYPED AND SEXIST”

QUESTION 01 What do you consider are the main advantages and
disadvantage of print advertising for those airlines that use it as part of
their marketing communication strategy?

QUESTION 02 Examples of press advertisement and comparison of the
same with the statement “Too much contemporary airline advertising is
dishonest, boring, stereotyped and sexist”

1|Page Prepared by: Rohit Tomar


Contents

1. Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................... 3
2. Detailed Report ................................................................................................................................. 4
2.1 Advantages...................................................................................................................................... 4
2.2 Disadvantages ................................................................................................................................. 5
3 Airline Advertisement Analysis ............................................................................................................. 7
3.1 Example 1 (DHL) .............................................................................................................................. 7
3.2 Example 2 (Qatar Airways) ............................................................................................................. 9
3.3 Example 3 (Thai Airways) .............................................................................................................. 11
3.4 Example 4 (Indigo Airline) ............................................................................................................. 13
3.5 Example 5 (Air Asia) ...................................................................................................................... 15
3.6 Example 6 (Lufthansa Airline) ....................................................................................................... 17



1. Executive Summary

Question 01
Print Advertising has always been an integral part of an Airline’s Marketing Strategy. An Airline uses
print advertising of various forms to communicate with its customer base. In order to comprehend the
factors which determine the print marketing strategy for an airline, India has been chosen as an
illustrative example for this report. Utilizing this sample I shall elucidate an air operator’s marketing
strategy and give an insight into the advantages and disadvantages of print marketing for this sample
market.

The sample market (India) has been analyzed utilizing the following parameters:

1. Marketing reach of print advertising within the sample market
2. Brand positioning and visibility vis a vis the sample market
3. Brand Credibility
4. Cost of utilizing print media in comparison with other channels of advertising
5. Effectiveness of print media communication
6. Competitors response to utilization of print media communication
7. Measurement of customer response to print media communication

Post examination of the aforementioned parameters, they have been classified as being advantageous/
disadvantageous towards an effective marketing solutions for an air operator at various stages of its
product life cycle within the sample space.

Question 02
Examples of print advertisements of 6 international airlines haven been selected for this report. The
criterion of selection of these advertisements has been the market place aimed by these airlines (India).
Each advertisement is closely analyzed to assimilate the effectiveness of the advertisement and its level
of conformance or non-conformance to the statement “Too much contemporary airline advertising is
dishonest, boring, stereotyped and sexist”.

The Airlines whose advertisement has been chosen for this report are:

1) DHL
2) Qatar Airways
3) Thai Airways
4) Indigo Airlines
5) Air Asia
6) Lufthanza Airlines



2. Detailed Report
2.1 Advantages
The following are the advantages for Print Marketing for our Airline

2.1.1 Marketing Reach

In a country like India, the population is an asset for an industry like Aviation Industry. With a steady
growth in Air Travel Market of more than 10% year on year1, it’s imperative for an airline to be able to
reach its customer base which is spread far and wide across the country.

To reach this extensive Customer Base an Airline needs to find a common platform. This is provided by
the News Paper Industry in India, which against the global trend, in India is expected to grow at a rate of
12% for the year 2012-132. The high number of subscriber base makes Newspaper Advertisement the
best way to communicate with the population. It would provide the ideal inroad towards introduction
of the airline to the customers.

In addition, a very high range of diversity exists among languages which are spoken in India, this makes
it ideal to utilize the print media (newspapers) to communicate effectively with the customers in their
preferred language.

2.1.2 Brand Positioning & Visibility

An Established Airline in India, would use print marketing as a Brand Positioning strategy. It would use
Print Marketing to further promote and strengthen its market leader position. An Airline could also use
the print marketing as an effective tool to build investor confidence if it’s publicly traded or to ensure a
better IPO (Initial Public Offering).

An Airline would also use print marketing in leading magazines to target their business class passengers.
It would use magazine print marketing to introduce new routes or a new product. One of the benefits of
print advertising in magazines is that it reaches its customers during a time in which the customer is
relaxing and hence is receptive to what the advertisement wants to communicate.

2.1.3 Brand Credibility

Print Marketing has always been considered to aid tremendously in terms of Brand Credibility
particularly due to the psychological effect it has on the reader. Traditionally, “In Writing” has been
considered as a mark of credibility for a brand and Print Marketing further assures the same at a
subconscious level for a customer.

1 th
As per figures released by CAPA (Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation) Aviation Analysis, 29 September 2011,
http://www.centreforaviation.com/analysis/india-is-worlds-fastest-growing-aviation-market-as-double-digit-
domestic-growth-continues-59652
2
As per BBC Business News article based on an analysis from KPMG http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-
14362723



2.2 Disadvantages

2.2.1 Cost of Marketing

One of the major hindrances for print marketing is the cost of print marketing. An Airline undergoing
steps to cut its losses during a financial downturn, would be focusing on cost cutting and print
marketing does feature among the top areas under which cost savings can be achieved.

Example: In Times of India (Highest Readership in India for English Language) it would cost an Airline
about USD 86 / Sq. Centimeter for an advertisement that would be printed for one day. This if
compared to online advertisement is far more costly, as online advertisements give the advantage to the
Airline for Pay Per Click, which ensures that an Airline would only pay for advertisement when the
customer clicks on the ad.

2.2.2 Effective Communication

Print media advertising does pose a limitation towards effective communication. As the Advertisements
spaces are for sale, there is a persistent risk that the Advertisement might not stand out among the
clutter of advertisements and can hence be overshadowed with the presence of another bigger size
advertisement. These factors result in an Airline using a bigger Advertisement which further results in
higher cost of advertisement.

Also due to 2 Dimensional Print Media, the Advertisements are less interactive or may not be able to
effectively communicate with its customers.

2.2.3 Competitors reaction

Print Advertisement serves as critical information for Competitors. An established airline would use the
print advertisements of a new startup airline to analyze the latter’s marketing strategy and would then
step up its activity aggressively to retain its market share. For illustration, if an airline releases a print
advertisement of a new route that it plans to launch with a cheaper fare than available in the market
space, the competitor airline might aggressively reduce its fares on the same route to retain its market
share. In some scenarios, the competitor airline would decide to incur losses on the competing route
and undercut the fares in the advertisement to remove the new entrant from entering the market.



2.2.4 Measurement of Response

There is no effective solution today available to measure the response of a print advertisement. There
are various methods employed by an Airline like a feedback card which might contain a question
typically “why did you choose X Airline” or an Airline might contract a third party company to try and get
response from its customers about the customer’s choice and the reason for the customer’s choice.
Having these methods however does not provide a measurement of response to an Airline’s
Advertisement in Print Media. Adding to this ineffectiveness, the option of internet marketing has
served as a very useful tool for an Airline to measure the response to its only marketing strategies by
using methods like Pay per Click etc.

2.2.5 Credibility

Print Advertisement also carries a high risk for an Airline who utilizes very aggressive marketing. For an
Airline which employs a Cost Leadership Positioning Strategy, it has to use Print Advertisement with
utmost care. For illustration, if an Airline releases an advertisement of a very cheap fare available on one
of its routes, it will have to have to ensure that at any given point of time it should be able to offer the
fare it has advertised. Now, there could be a possibility that when a customer tries to book the cheap
fare tickets, it’s unavailable as either it might have been sold out or the fare would not be available for
the choice of customer’s flight. However, for the customer this can generate a negative reaction
towards the Airline denouncing it to be dubious and untrue. This would greatly impact the credibility of
the Airline in the customer’s mind.



3 Airline Advertisement Analysis

3.1 Example 1



Advertisement: DHL Advertisement

Magazine: TIME Magazine

Subscription Month: 3rd October 2011

Location: Second Page and Third Page Complete Coverpage.

Advertisement Analysis

3.1.1 Positives
1) The Advertisement effectively positions DHL as a world leader in logistics.
2) Used an established brand of Airbus, adding strength to its branding.
3) Non Contemporary, Non Stereotyped, Non Sexist.
4) The Advertisement is not Dishonest as DHL has proven itself to be a leader in the Logistics
Market in the European Market.

3.1.2 Negatives
1) Co-Branding also carries with itself the possibility of an impact of a negative brand being used
for co-branding. In this case, Airbus has been in the news recently for production delays which is
a negative publicity for the brand using Airbus for Co Branding.



3.2 Example 2



Advertisement: Qatar Airways



Location: One Page Advertisement Page Number 23.


3.2.1 Positives
1) The advertisement is aiming to position Qatar as a 5 Star Airline promotes its product 5 Star
Journey to Europe for its target customers.

3.2.2 Negatives
1) Focus of the advertisement is only on food. It does not mention about Qatar Airlines network.
2) The Advertisement promotes a food platter as the face of the advertisement, the same however
does not appear appealing for customers (Indian or Middle Eastern).
3) Airline promotes itself to be World’s 5-Star Airline but does not mention about the auditing
company or group that has given it this recognition.
4) The Advertisement appears boring and does not make a customer involved to read about the
same.
5) The Advertisement is not stereotyped but also does not have the look and feel of an Airline’s
Advertisement.

10 | P a g e Prepared by: Rohit Tomar


3.3 Example 3



Advertisement: Thai Airways





3.3.1 Positives
1) Product focused Advertisement (Non Stop Flights to Brussels).
2) Has effectively used Skytrax awards for Best Economy Class Seat and Catering, thereby focusing
and targeting on the Economy class travel.
3) Has effectively used its Star Alliance, thereby using a reassurance of being a partner in a strong
alliance.
4) Flight Details explicitly given for the customer to be able to choose his flight.
5) Non Contemporary, focused Advertisement, delivering details.
6) No False promises, non-sexist and Communicative to the Customer.



3.4 Example 4



Advertisement: Indigo Airlines

Magazine: Business World Magazine




3.4.1 Positives
1) Focused Advertisement on new routes to Singapore
2) Informative Advertisement as it contains the flight details.
3) Focused on Business Travellers as it does not entice a holiday traveller through the
advertisement.

3.4.2 Negatives
1) Too plain and non-communicative
2) The Advertisement is boring and stereotyped
3) It does not talk about the product offering from Indigo Airlines. (Indigo Airlines is a Low Cost
Carrier (LCC) in India and currently does not provide a product like Inflight Catering, etc.)
4) Being an LCC, it would be important to promote a fare related Advertisement, which is missing
in this case. (If we use MakeMytrip.com (a leading internet ticket booking website3) we see that
Indigo Mumbai- Singapore Rates are significantly lower than competitors for dates of travel
within 4 days, post 4 days cost of ticket on Indigo Airlines is higher than competitors)

3
Utilized www.makemytrip.com as reference for the examination of fares on 18 Oct 2011



3.5 Example 5



Advertisement: Air Asia

Magazine: Outlook Business Magazine

Subscription Month: 1st October 2011



3.5.1 Positives
1) Interactive Advertisement
2) Product specific, describing about the Self Check In product of Air Asia
3) Used Skytrax Award for Best Low Cost Airline thereby defining its product for the customer.

3.5.2 Negatives
1) The advertisement has been targeted towards a market segment (India) which has not
experienced any Airline charging an extra cost towards passengers using check in counter.
2) For an inexperienced customer to comprehend this product, its needs to be projected by the
Airline that this product would help to ensure the Airline to consistently provide a lower fare for
its customers.
3) Lack of this critical information makes the advertisement ineffective to its target customers.



3.6 Example 6



Advertisement: Lufthansa Airlines

Magazine: Harvard Business Review Magazine

Subscription Month: October 2011



3.6.1 Positives
1) Product specific Advertisement.
2) Effectively targets business and economy class passengers by promoting the network strength of
Lufthansa to ensure a flexible connection for a business class passenger and reliability for
economy class passenger.
3) Promotes Star Alliance and also details of its partner airlines which further increases the
confidence and flexibility of choice for its customers.

3.6.2 Negatives
1) The advertisement is boring.
2) The advertisement is sexist and has used the classical family picture, depicting father as the
working member of the family (traveller) and a father daughter relationship.


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