Sep 3, 2008

Mktg - Kingfisher kicks off Rs 1 Billion campaign

BANGALORE: Starting Wednesday, Kingfisher Airlines Limited (Kingfisher) will commence daily flights to Heathrow London from India's IT capital city Bangalore. And it has lined up an aggressive campaign across print, outdoor and on-ground activation estimated at Rs 1 billion, which kicked off on Monday.

A print and outdoor campaign has commenced in the UK also. "There are around 150 cabs in London that carry our branding and announce the arrival of our airline in the UK besides print and outdoor advertisements," said Kingfisher general manager marketing Vikram Malhotra while speaking with www.indiantelevision.com.
"Our studies indicate that contextual rather than brand communication is needed for now by our brand, since it is quite well known. For now, we will concentrate on print, direct mailers, and outdoor. Last year we spent a lot of money on mass media communications through television advertisement for brand building and extension. This time we have kept television and radio advertisement out of our media plans for now. After about six months, we will use these mediums also for continuation," added Malhotra.

Kingfisher plans to woo the customer with its in-flight services and superior experience at all points – in-flight entertainment with personalized wide screen television on every seat with 10 Kingfisher radio and five trendy FUN TV channels, gourmet meals with menu options for breakfast, lunch and dinner, among others.
A bouquet of eight Dish TV channels that are currently beamed on Kingfisher's local flights, four channels from UK – BBC, CNN, Bloomberg and ESPN Sports along with 300 hours of programming – a mix of Hollywood and Bollywood movies will be of offer on demand to Kingfisher 'guests' on its international flights, revealed Malhotra.

The airline has also launched a partner program for likeminded brands to come on the same platform and achieve respective marketing objectives. The company has commenced an on ground activation program aimed at communicating the 'Good Times' experience of Kingfisher at multiple consumer touch points such as multiplexes, malls, restaurants, pubs and events.
Besides Bangalore, flights from other Indian cities such as Mumbai and New Delhi to destinations such as Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai, Male and Maldives will roll out by the end of the year. Also, by November this year, the airline plans non-stop Bangalore-San Francisco flights. Kingfisher One (business class) and Kingfisher Class, (premium economy) seats will be on offer on international flights. In India, low cost Air Deccan seats will be rebranded as Kingfisher Red class.
JWT handles the creative work for Kingfisher's international operations globally, while Rediffusion handles Kingfisher Red account. Kingfisher's media buying duties globally are being handled by Group M.

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