3/20/13

Cool branding moves IndiGo from a budget airline to a preferred business carrier - The Economic Times
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Auto Banking/Finance Cons. Products Energy Ind'l Goods/Svs Healthcare/Biotech Jobs Services Media/Entertainm ent ET Cetera Telecom You are here: ET Home New s New s By Industry Transportation 20 MAR, 2013, 05.36AM IST, ANINDYA UPADHYAY,ET BUREAU

Cool branding moves IndiGo from a budget airline to a preferred business carrier
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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
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Despite launching squarely in the budget airline segment, IndiGo was able to build a reputed cool brand name for itself, in a very short segment of time. EDITORS PICK Term inal 2 can be a gam e changer for Mum bai airport and a challenger to Delhi's T3 How telcos poach subscribers | Court sum m ons Mittal PM's dependence on SP, BSP increases Will Ceylon now becom e a Cyclone? Karunanidhi tsunam i w ashes aw ay RBI's rate cut

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"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 BSE -4.18 % , Coca-Cola, the Tata Group, GSK and the Aditya Birla Group signed up as corporate clients - giving them a premium seat allocation and onboard meal bundled with each ticket purchased.

Terminal 2: Game changer for Mumbai airport, challenger to Delhi's T3

For those who complain about never ending walks at Delhi's T3, Mumbai will offer 44 travelators with one of the largest car parks in the country--5,200 cars at any point in time. Can Delhi's T3 be like London's Heathrow? Delhi, Mumbai, Hyd in world's top 5 Design flaw in Chennai's new terminal Modernisation at India's airports

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Cool branding moves IndiGo from a budget airline to a preferred business carrier - The Economic Times
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.

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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. No problem, says Wieden + Kennedy. There'll soon be something new that addresses these issues, but "the IndiGoness will not go," says V Sunil.

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Dhishum (Jupiter) 16 Follow ers Gold: 6788

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Its not the brand but the punctuality that attracts business travelers to Indigo

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Moti Chow dhry (Jammu) Silver: 266

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1 Zeyaalam
Points: 156

If you know your goal you consciously follow a business strategy to achieve the goal. Indigo has done it.

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Ashok Patel
Points: 146

Am al Chaudhuri (Kolkata)

Kskasinathan
Points: 120

The best thing about Indigo is maintaining flight schedules to the dot. Besides, the standard of cleanliness is remarkable. The best among all the present ones crowding our sky.

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AarGee
Points: 117

Know m ore about Tim es Points Santosh Balan (Pune)

Indigo may be market friendly going by the comments from their ad agency. But definitely they are not customer friendly. Would share my experience

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But definitely they are not customer friendly. Would share my experience when booking a ticket through their website. There was an offer by HDFC Bk credit card whereby you can avail a discount by punching the promocode. While filling the booking details couldnt find the promocode button due to some problem in their website or internet service provider. Moreover could not revert to the previous window from the browser as the payment transaction was in process. Thought that this can be taken offline and so called their customer service lines. Since they had all the payment and credit card details requested to them if the offer can be honoured by refund of the excess amount. They were just stubborn and was not courteous enough to give a proper explanation as to why this offer cannot be honoured.

Cool branding moves IndiGo from a budget airline to a preferred business carrier - The Economic Times
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Santosh (Pune)

Indigo may be marketing friendly with lot of comments from their ad agency. But it cannot be construed that they are customer friendly. Would like to share a personal experience when bought a ticket from their site. There was an offer on HDFC Credit cards whereby promocode needs to be filled to avail the offer. This code somehow could not be entered while purchasing the ticket as one cannot not go back to the previous window through the browser due to some issues with their website or internet service provider. I thought this offer can be discussed offline as they already have all the records of my payment details. Hence informed their customer service centre to pass on the benefit through the backend. They just stubbornly refused and was not even courteous enough to explain why this cannot be done. Any customer friendly organisation would have gone that extra mile in honouring the offer knowing very well the issues in internet connectivity in India.

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Will not be easy with serious experienced player like Air Asia entering this field. Need to be careful to employees and passengers happy keeping control over costs.

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Very true.

Randhir Kum ar (Bangalore) 4 Follow ers Silver: 1108

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DA (Mumbai)

Check what is the debt of this airline... who is the owner,,,,, how much indian banks have funded... check out the novel ways of funding,,,, are the planes owned or leased,,, check out lease companies,,,, (many times leased at high rates) are the leasing cos indian or foreign.... what is the outgo of foreign exchange of the exchequer.... this kind of cos, like KFA will one day wake and say,,, oh we are sick.... and will defraud PSU banks of the borrowings... inturn indian public..... Now public is happy.... but it is a low cost carrier.... Not like full service carrier like Air India,,, Air India was on the operation table to be slaughtered by such carriers,,, by wrong policies of some fools... let us see how the airline industry turns out...

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Am dsajjad (Hyderabad) 20 Follow ers Gold: 11K

indian skies needs a compiteter to the present fleet of different airlines including indigo

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Bangalorew ala (Bangalore) 105 Follow ers Platinum : 27.4K

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Cool branding moves IndiGo from a budget airline to a preferred business carrier - The Economic Times
Agree (3) Disagree (1) Recommend (1) Offensive

Indigo has done well and has a reputation now.

Sanjay Gupta (Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh) Replies To Bangalorew ala 24 Follow ers Gold: 5434

It is now my preferred airline. Clean, professional and punctual.

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COLRANBIRLAMBA Lam ba (PTA) 317 Follow ers Platinum : 50.4K

MAKE UR SELF SAFE >> NO FOOLISHNESS LIKE >.KF

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Abduer (Cochin) Replies To COLRANBIRLAMBA Lam ba 33 Follow ers Gold: 11K

You mean the passengers?

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Abduer (Cochin) Replies To COLRANBIRLAMBA Lam ba 33 Follow ers Gold: 11K

Who are you telling this to?

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Sanjay Gupta (Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh) Replies To COLRANBIRLAMBA Lam ba 24 Follow ers Gold: 5434

I must say I used to like KF but then the discourteous service on Red and then the slow death has put me off them for sure. At one time their food was the best - but then tapered off very fast.

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Am it (Mumbai)

They are not innovative at all.....its just that Kingfisher is no longer available hence we need something to fly right. If Kingfisher starts tomorrow it will pull 50% market share from this cheepo indigo within a span of 2 days. Anyways is this a paid article???

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Satya (Bangalore) Replies To Am it

Did you fall on your head when you were a baby?

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Am it Replies To Satya

are you talking about yourself....seems so, as only people like you can believe that Indigo has gained business travelers because of cool branding???? or you must be working for ET.

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Dinesh (Kashipur) 2 Follow ers Silver: 884

preferred corporate flyer? i guess its just the companies who want to check their costs, insist Indigo. thats all. I have seen many people, from corporate

Agree (5) Disagree (0)

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their costs, insist Indigo. thats all. I have seen many people, from corporate and otherwise complain about Indigo and my personal experience has never been great. anything from, hot cabins to 'have to ask for water'.

Cool branding moves IndiGo from a budget airline to a preferred business carrier - The Economic Times
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Aeidal20 (Gurgaon) 3 Follow ers Silver: 1161

Indigo has maintained its claim of being on time .....Hoping it introduces a frequent flyer programme soon.......The only feather missing from its crown.....

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Sk (Randominium) Replies To Aeidal20

They already have something similar, just register/sign on to the site before you book your tickets. you should be getting a discount or a freebie based on ur travel miles or frequency of usage.

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Aeidal20 Replies To Sk 3 Follow ers Silver: 1161

I've never come across one though i use the same medium to book....

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T S Rajagopalan (Namma Bengaluru) 1 Follow er Silver: 1143

Innovative approach but shouldn't get head-long like Jet nor flamboyance like KF. Need to care for the general passenger's needs and to upgrade as per time and not ignore competition.

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Ivan Bigger (Gamburtsev Province) 5 Follow ers Silver: 1576

They are copying Kingfisher thats all...

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Saw ant (Goa) Replies To Ivan Bigger Silver: 685

Kingfisher was good in the good olds of its launch, in its last days of survival it was the worst airline to fly with.

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Cool branding moves IndiGo from a budget airline to a preferred business carrier - The Economic Times

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Cool branding moves IndiGo from a budget airline to a preferred business carrier - The Economic Times

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