INDIAN INSTITUTE OF PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT NEW DELHI

PROJECT REPORT ON ADVERTISING STRATEGY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF KINGFISHER SUBMITTED BY:IMAD REHMAN BATCH: SS9/11 PHONE NO: EMAIL ID: [email protected] SECTION: SP3

ABSTRACT
Kingfisher Airlines is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Breweries Holdings Limited (the second largest brewery group in the world), the UB Group's investments holding company. Kingfisher Airlines has been allocated the IATA airline code of 'IT'. The UB Group is one of India's largest conglomerates with a turnover of US $2 billion and is the largest Indian manufacturer of beverage alcohol-beer and liquor. With the foray of UB Groups birds into the Indian aviation industry, Kingfisher Airlines has become a force to reckon with. The Airline already has a number of firsts to its credit. Kingfisher Airlines Limited is an airline company based in Bangalore, India. This airline was introduced in the market to target the domestic luxury segment. Kingfisher Airlines was introduced into the Indian airline market by the Indian Business Tycoon Dr Vijay Mallya (the owner of United Breweries Limited). It was introduced on 9th May, 2005. It operates in 37 destinations with 218 flights a day. It has a fleet size of 71 and also the first Indian domestic airlines to introduce the Airbus A380. Kingfisher is one of only six airlines in the world to have a five-star rating from Skytrax, along with Asiana Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways. Kingfisher airlines have been awarded The best new airline of the year 2005. Presently kingfisher airlines has acquired Air Deccan (one of the major profitable domestic low cost airline) hence penetrating into the lower segment of the market too.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Through this acknowledgement I express my sincere gratitude towards all those people who helped me in this project, which has been a learning experience. I appreciate the co-ordination extended by my friends and also express my sincere thankfulness to the entire faculty members of Indian Institute of Planning & Management, Delhi, giving me the opportunity to do this project/study and also assisting me for the same.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

S.No. Topic 1. Abstract 2. Acknowledgment 3. Introduction 4. Research Objective & Methodology 5. Literature Review 6. Finding & Analysis 7. Recommendations 8. Conclusion 9. Bibliography

Page No. 1 2 4 5 19 34 36 38 40

INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC

According to a research by Reichheld and Sasser in the Harvard Business Review, 5% increase in customer retention can increase profitability by 35% in Airlines business, 50% in insurance and brokerage, and 125% in the consumer credit card market. Therefore, Airlines are now stressing on retaining customers and increasing market share". The above situations like these are definitely creating an impression in the mind of customers that the corporate are denying legitimate right, needs and requirements. Right from the days of customer centric market, this has been a regular activity that there are problems in customer care. In today's business environment there is no such industry, where customer care problems does not exist, even in the field of hospitality industry and service industry where in these industry's core business is custom care and the gap between the customers and their expectations and the service providers are increasing day by day. Today in the Heighten world lot many new innovative products and services are being invented, but at the same time does any company thought that the product/service they offer are really needed by the customers or it is just because the products are being produced and are dumped into the market. As people are very much aware that there are whole variety of products and services available in the market. But how many of them do really buy them even though they are of top quality, with marvelous features and at affordable prices. Managers at middle level and supervisory levels of Indian corporate are not ready to treat customers equally. Unless the attitude of the managers changes towards customers problems pertaining to service will always exist. How companies are responding to the bad experiences of using the product or service, what are the measures taken to avoid such experiences by the customers. Companies must ensure that customers get a new experience in purchasing and using their products and the impact of such purchase must be for a long time and which can be encased into new opportunities in the long run. And differentiating from competitors, there by extending the change in purchasing experience. 5

One would definitely agree that, it is not always possible to give such a kind of experience and personal attention to each and every customer, but a company must make sure that customers should not leave the premises without satisfaction, and it is the right of the customer to expect highest degree of respect, let it be in the case of, hospitality, product availability, price, features or any other service (E.g.: Fiat is known for its best designed and engineered cars in the world, but in India it could not capture the market as expected because, after sales service levels were not up to the expectations of the customer, In order to boost sales in India, Tata Motors and Fiat came together and announced a strategic relationship in passenger car segment for sales and marketing of Fiat cars through Tata dealerships. Through these dealerships display a wide selection of Fiat cars along with service and spares will be provided across Tata dealerships in India. Dealers will display the Fiat models along with Tata cars) And most importantly the consumer complaining behavior process is unique; it has to deal with at most importance. And it distinguishes between negative word-of-mouth that occurs prior to seeking redress (or in lieu of seeking redress) and negative word-of-mouth that occurs after seeking redress. There is an argument from the company's point of view i.e. how can any company spend time and manpower to attend a default and fraudulent customer and how treat them in the same manner as genuine and productive customer. Certainly they must be treated in a cordial way but one should not forget that they too deserve some importance in one way or the other. There is every possibility that companies make mistakes but they must be such that they should be forgivable by the customer, meaning even though companies make mistakes and try to rectify at the earliest and inform customers that the mistake which has been committed is been rectified and at most precautions have been taken, not to repeat the mistake. Eg: What Cadbury has done by giving advertisements in the media, that it has rectified its mistakes and promised the customer that it won't repeat the same mistake again. If a person is a regular customer of friendly neighborhood grocery shop or any other shop or bank, one will definitely know the painless punch of corporate businesses. They might 6

misguide, mislead with the bashing effect, display, intense publicity, promotion and enchasing on personal intimacy. One should be aware that in one way or the other the suppliers are the customers and consumers of their own produce. The individuals who supply the produce at certain rate cannot afford to purchase the same product just because it is been packed and placed in fully decorated place. In this kind of situation, are you (customer) the beneficiary, just ask yourself. know there is nothing, which is called as "Service". Most Indians are habituated to have every thing fresh and never had tradition of packing food, let it be cooked or uncooked food, they prefer to have them in a natural way. The ever changing customer expectations are forcing the corporate to provide excellent service which is not possible to each an every company, organizations which provides service beyond customer expectations will survive the future rest will be out of business. Organizations who wanted to survive are exploring, proliferating them selves by establishing new businesses in big way, there by depending on higher volumes. Some of them are collaboratively sharing their customer data there by offering vide variety of products to the same customer and leveraging customer base. These strategies adopted by the companies constantly put the pressure on the customer by offering vide range of product and there is fare chance that one might ignore such product offerings which are marketed by different departments, which are in a race generate revenue of their own. There is always a risk that customer may encounter different service levels of the different department of the same company. For many years, Indian economy has been guarded from invasion of foreign companies in the form of Joint venture or fully owned or capitalistic form of economy. Only some state owned companies which were in key areas like Defense, Telecom, Oil and other essential commodities. A set of few private owned companies who were into consumer items, engineering and manufacturing prospered during that period. Right from the days of closely guarded economy and till the days of economic liberalization in late 1990, the private owned companies in the seller's market were very successful. But the whole scenario chanced after post liberalization. Who do you think is the real beneficiary; if your answer is, neither the supplier nor the consumer, then one will get to

Ever since the golden days (customer centric market) i.e. Since last thirty years to till date, marketers have been saying "Customer is the King" but, is the customer really a king? This is the main question which comes to everybody's mind and other questions such as how customers are treated? What quality of products do marketers offer? Are the products are user friendly? Etc., if these questions are answered completely with good outlook, a company can build up a brand which will be unique in any or combination of all the following attributes Price, Design, Quality, Usability, Service and shopping experience there by creating own and distinguished Brand. As an human being every individual expects to be treated with courtesy, similarly it is prime duty of marketers to treat customer with at most respect which he/she deserves. Here is a situation where CRM come in to picture, the essence of CRM should be understood as any activity which is completely customer centric and which enhances customer's expectations and satisfaction levels by giving him/her a wow effect with a human touch, at the same time maximize revenues from such services. "CRM would help organizations to serve the customers on an individual basis, to enjoy a long-term relationship and to get rid of barriers and distortions created by non-value adding intermediaries. He also says that CRM would also help organizations to reduce marketing costs, target specific customers by focusing on their needs and to track the effectiveness of a given marketing action" by Dr Thapan K. Panda, IIM Indore "CRM has power to help bankers quickly and directly improve customer satisfaction. CRM is an added dimension to ensure that what the customer expects is consistent with what the bank is prepared to deliver. One expert in bank CRM initiatives recently said that CRM is an approach that is less focused on providing the right services to the customer than attracting customers who are the right fit for what the bank has to offer. Further, the primary value of CRM is its potential as a customer retention tool. People are starting to measure CRM in terms of increased customer satisfaction rather than ROI" by Rob Keene, Director, Banking Practice. In the vide spectrum of business, in after adopting and practicing latest technologies like CRM, people soft and other similar technologies. How do people interpret and understand the meaning of Customer Relationship Management, many experts expressed

their view in different forms but there are few seminaries which revolve round the "Customer's needs, expectations and satisfaction" In the field of consumer service management, many unexpected problem do arise and they pose challenges to be solved, a doubt may arise in the minds of individuals that adopting all these CRM technologies are of waste of money and time. May be not, as per the latest studies, customer service problems are marginalized to some extent but could not overcome them completely. We cannot imagine big businesses without such customer service technologies. Company's internal environment (employees) and external environment (Customer traffic, Business expansion etc.,) do influence on implementation of such technologies, Employees must be trained continuously to implement it and also change their mind set to adapt to such changing environment (customer centric). Unless people from top to bottom level in all departments focus and act on, what they actually wanted achieve in customer relationship management, interactive Customer Relationship Management software solutions will never deliver expected results.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES & METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES To know the media awareness among the people. To measure the effectiveness of electronic media. To analyze the Media behavior f the people. To identify first source of information. To identify the change in attitude of the consumer due to electronic media. To analyze the media habits of the respondents. To identify the factors which affects the change in decision? To analyze the media distribution of the respondents.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY SECONDARY DATA I will collect the Secondary data from following sources: Newspaper Hindustan Times, Times of India, Economic Times Magazine - The Times. Harvard Business Review, 4Ps Website/Internet from different website, Babool Toothpaste Book Course book/ Philip Kotler Notes- Professors Notes

PRIMARY DATAI will collect the data through structure questionnaire.

10

LITERATURE REVIEW
Advertising Strategies have always been the easiest way for a new product launch (consumer goods) and will remain to do so in the near future on account of their mass appeal and a world full of star stuck loyal fans. But the impact on the brand is much greater than just an advertisement showing a celebrity. We have seen that the correct choice of a celebrity can surely increase sales but when it comes to long term loyalty and impact on the brand. The effect is yet somewhat debatable. In the end, the product must deliver for the customer, no matter who endorses the product, if the customer does not see himself getting value from his purchase, he will not buy it. But yes, Advertising Strategies over time can influence the loyalty and make a person friendlier to a brand. Brand and Advertising Strategies are here to stay for a long time and in this age of slick advertising and mass media and unthinkable budgets, Advertising Strategies are having a field day charging huge amounts and making more money than their mainstream professions. But then do they really care about the brand? Or is it just the money? But the bottom line, Advertising Strategies are here to stay. Let us accept one thing - the world of advertising and brand building does not believe in the Laissez-Faire principle. Unless you reach out to the customer, make him think and nudge him that little bit, you will fall short of your targets and that is a cardinal sin, given the competition. The brand managers work on an extremely sleek, thought-controlling process which may be propounded as the Multiplier Effect. They are smart, pragmatic people and know very well that Mr. Singh, sitting in his cosy home in Delhi and watching his favourite action hero driving the brand new LX car model, would not walk up to the car showroom next day and book one for himself. They offer simple feelers like concept and lifestyle to him, which are inherent to the product advertisement, with or without the Advertising Strategies. With the use of the celebrity, this effect is shrewdly magnified so as to allow the consumer to equate the personality and the brand together. Hence, whenever the consumer is watching the several images of her favorite actress alone, it conjures up multiple impressions of her sipping the XY brand of coffee, each time.

11

The brand's ultimate goal is to be at the top of her choice bracket and it achieves this goal by being omnipresent in her memory through related celebrity imagery. Does it justify the obscene amounts of money paid to these Advertising Strategies? For firms with annual turnovers in excess of Rs. 1000 crores, an endorsement deal of Rs. 5-6 crores for such a response would indeed be a smart deal. In a Synovate/Blackstone Market Facts Survey in India in late 2003, almost 47% respondents affirmed celebrity influence on their purchase behaviour. That's a lot of people influenced by Advertising Strategies! Talking about successful switchovers by Advertising Strategies among competitive brands, Aamir Khan had a 78% top brand recall with Coke. But such transitions are rare and involve a lot of hard work behind the scenes to dab any leftover effects of the celebrity's previous liaison with the competitor. While speaking of Advertising Strategies, we should be very clear as to who this term connotes to and the powers they carry. Fido Dido for 7-UP, the Amul Girl or Tony the Tiger for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes are as much a celebrity as any breathing face. They reach their target consumer, they move the product, and they carry the brand. That's what counts. Of course, the gestation period is higher in the case of such creatives, but in the event of a hit, the comparative risks are minimized. After all, they cannot get drunk, attract a controversy or commit a crime, as long as the management wants. In short, they are 'safe floaters' vis--vis their unpredictable human counterparts. Undoubtedly, there are many advocates for the clamp down upon the commercialization of consumer emotions and money-making attitude of endorsers. But the Advertising Strategies have circumvented these allegations by appearing in non-commercial advertisements. When Aishwarya Rai appeals to the nation to donate their eyes while she personally pledges them, she strikes a chord with millions of viewers. Shabana Azmi inspires a sense of tremendous awe and respect while being shown as visiting HIV patients. This reverence is what is later harnessed by the brands in the commercial angle. You grow in stature with the person. No matter how much we raise a hue and cry over one celebrity being all over the place and marketing just about everything, it still works for most of us.

12

Indeed, the premise that celebrity advertising has the power to propel a brand and drive the sales can be argued. The Pareto Principle is widely debated and the 80-20 rule does not have many takers in the advertising industry. That, "20% of advertising creates 80% of demand or sales", may or may not be true. In either case it does not help. The word remains that for a scintillating endorsement, you need much more than a glowing face and aesthetic advertising. You should back it up with your operational and communication skills. Using a celebrity in advertising is no panacea and the success of this process depends on several factors as discussed above. The careful selection of celebrity, matching the target segment and brand values, should be inherently stressed upon. The advertisers can use the Q Score, developed by a U.S. based marketing research agency, which considers two factors - awareness and likeability, while evaluating the celebrity. Another important factor is the flexibility with which the companies can go in for hedging the risks associated in hiring a celebrity. They choose personalities from various fields or even appealing to various consumer perceptions, so that they can minimize the damage in cases of negative publicity due to any celebrity mistake. The cola brands spread their endorsements across a wide 'variety' of Advertising Strategies such that even if one falls, the others are still holding the fort. Marketing Promotion, a key ingredient in marketing campaigns, consists of a diverse collection of incentive tools, mostly short term, designed to stimulate quicker or greater purchase of particular products or services by consumers or the trade.1 Whereas advertising offers a reason to buy, Marketing Promotion offers an incentive to buy. Marketing Promotion includes tools for consumer promotion (samples, coupons, cash refund offers, process off, premiums, prizes, patronage rewards, free trials, warranties, tie-in promotions, cross-promotions, point-of-purchase displays, and demonstrations); trade promotion (prices off, advertising and display allowances, and free goods); and sales force promotions (trade shows and conventions, contest for sales reps, and specialty advertising). These tools are used by most organizations, including non-profit organizations. Churches, for example, often sponsor bingo games, theatre parties, testimonial dinners and raffles.

13

A decade ago, the advertising to sales-promotion ratio was about 60:40. Today, in many consumer packaged-good companies, Marketing Promotion accounts for 65 to 75 percent of the combined budged. Marketing Promotion expenditures have been increasing as a percentage of combined budget expenditure annually for the last two decades. Several factors contribute to this rapid growth, particularly in the consumer markets.2 Promotion is now more accepted by the top management as an effective sales tool; more product managers are qualified to use sales-promotion tools; and product managers are under pressure to increase current sales. In addition, the number of brands has increased; competitors use promotions frequently; many brands are seen as similar; consumers are more price-oriented; the trade has demanded more deals from the manufacturers; and the advertising efficiency has declined because of rising costs, media clutter, and legal restraints. The rapid growth of sales-promotion media has created clutter similar to the advertising clutter. Manufacturers have to find ways to rise above the clutter-for instance, by offering larger coupon-redemption values or using more dramatic point-of purchase displays and demonstrations. Purposes of Marketing Promotion Sales-promotion tools vary in their specific objectives. A free sample stimulates consumer trial, whereas a free management-advisory service aims at cementing longterm relationship with a retailer. Sellers use incentive-type promotion to attract new triers, to reward loyal customers, and to increase the repurchase rates of the occasional users. Marketing Promotion often attracts brand switchers, who are primarily looking for low price, good value, or premiums. Marketing Promotions are unlikely to turn them into loyal users. Marketing Promotions used in markets of high brand similarity produce a high sales response in the short term but little permanent gain in the market share. In markets of high dissimilarity, Marketing Promotion can alter market shares permanently. Farris and Quelch cite a number of Marketing Promotion benefits flowing to manufacturers and consumers.3 Marketing Promotion enable manufacturers to adjust to short-term variations in supply and demand. They enable manufacturers to test how high a list price they can charge, because they can always discount it. They induce the

14

customers to try new products instead of never straying from current ones. They lead to more varied retail formats, such as every-day-low-price store and the promotional-pricing store. They promote greater consumer awareness of prices. They permit manufacturers to sell more than they would sell at list price. They help the manufacturer adapt programs to different consumer segments. Consumer themselves enjoy some satisfaction from being smart shoppers when they take advantage of price specials. Today many marketing managers first estimate what they need to spend in trade promotion, then what they need to spend in consumer promotion. Whatever is left they will budget for advertising. There is danger, however, in letting advertising take a back seat, because advertising typically acts to build brand loyalty. The question of whether or not Marketing Promotion weakens brand loyalty is subject to different interpretations. Marketing Promotion, with its incessant prices off, coupons, deals and premiums, may devalue the product offering in the buyers minds. Buyers learn that the list price is largely a fiction. However, before jumping to any conclusion, we need to distinguish between price promotions and added-value promotions. However, usually, when a brand is price promoted too often, the consumer begins to devalue it and buy it mainly when it goes on sale. So there is risk in putting a well-known brand leader on promotion over 30 percent of time.() Dominant brands offer deals frequently, because most deals only subsidize current users. Browns study of 2,500 instant-coffee buyers concluded that: Marketing Promotions yield faster and more measurable responses in sales than advertising does. Marketing Promotions do not tend to yield new, long term buyers in mature markets because they attract mainly deal-prone consumers who switch among brands as deals become available. Loyal brand buyers tend not to change their buying patterns as a result of competitive promotion. Advertising appears to be capable of deepening brand loyalty.4

There is also evidence that price promotions do not build permanent total category volume. Small share competitors find it advantageous to use Marketing Promotion, 15

because they cannot afford to match the market leaders large advertising budgets; nor can they obtain shelf-space without offering trade allowances or stimulate consumer trials without offering incentives. Price competition is used by small brand seeking to enlarge its share, but it is less effective for category leader whose growth lies in expanding the entire category.5 The upshot is that many consumer packaged goods companies feels that they are forced to use more Marketing Promotions than they wish. They blame the heavy use of Marketing Promotion for decreasing brand loyalty; increasing consumer price-sensitivity; brand quality image dilution, and a focus on shortrun-marketing planning. Major decisions in Marketing Promotions In using Marketing Promotion, a company must establish its objectives, select the tools, develop the program, pretest the program, implement and control it, and evaluate the results. Establishing the objectives Marketing Promotion objectives are derived from broader promotion objectives, which are derived from more basic marketing objectives developed for the product. For consumers, objectives include encouraging purchase of larger-sized units, building trial among non-users, and attracting switchers away from competitors brands. For retailers, objectives include persuading retailers to carry new items and higher levels of inventory, encouraging stocking of related items, offsetting competitive promotions, building brand loyalty, and gaining entry into new retail outlets. For the sales force, objectives include encouraging support of a new product or model, encouraging more prospecting, and stimulating off-season sales. builders.)
6

See Marketing Memo: Marketing Promotions as brand

16

Marketing Memo: Marketing Promotions as brand builders Building brand awareness is a long-term process. What a brand does today predicts what it will do tomorrow. Sales promotions are short term and temporary. Here are some of the tips on how to make a sale promotion an effective brand-building tool. Make sure the promotion is justified: A new store opening, a company anniversary, and other kinds of celebrations are all good reasons for running a promotion Tie the promotion to brands image: Birth dates and anniversaries are good Look at every both for the sales job it can do and as a communication tool: A promotion is one of a brands many voices; it can help build brand awareness if it says the right things

Source: Adapted from Jacques Chevron, Branding and Promotion: Uneasy combination. Brand week, September 14, 1998, p.24 Selecting Consumer-promotion tools The promotion planner should take into account the type of the market, Marketing Promotion objectives, competitive conditions, and each tools cost effectiveness. The main consumer promotion tools are summarized in the following table. We can distinguish between manufacturer promotions and retailer promotions. Marketing Promotions are most effective when used together with advertising. In one study, a price promotion alone produced 15 percent increase in sales volume. When combined with feature advertising, sales volume increased 19 percent; when combined with feature advertising and a point-of-purchase display, sales volume increased 24 percent.7

In terms of the future, Advertising Strategies are here to stay. Their ability to cut across the classes, caste barriers and apprehensions are simply too important to be sidelined. They have been time-tested and delivered results repeatedly, given good hands. One could continue to wonder if these celebrity-hawkers are worth the money and the tantrums, but in a world of brand clutter and product muddle, Advertising Strategies seem to hit the nail on the head, more often than not. And to be honest, let's look around ourselves, why only Jane, we all in a little appreciation of those stars arent gazing back

17

at us! Although past research documents a general tendency for consumers to believe in the purity of the motives of celebrity endorsers, it is likely that this tendency varies substantially both across consumers and across endorsers. For example, Tripp showed that Advertising Strategies who endorse several products are viewed as less credible endorsers than those who endorse only a single product. also demonstrated that Advertising Strategies who are blamed for negative events (e.g. accidents) can have detrimental effects on the products they endorse. In short, the effectiveness of a celebrity endorser is dynamic, dependent on the celebrity, the product, and perhaps even societal conditions at the time and place where the advertisement is shown. As such, it could be fruitful to abandon the use of traditional measures of the celebrity endorser's trustworthiness or credibility in general in favor of directly measuring the degree to which individuals evaluate the celebrity as liking the endorsed product after viewing the advertisement. Such evaluations fit under a class of judgment that has been referred to as correspondent inferences Correspondent inferences more generally refer to any judgment in which observers use an individual's behavior (e.g. an endorser saying that she loves Cheerios cereal) to infer congruent dispositions in that individual (e.g. inferring that the endorser actually does love Cheerios cereal). We propose that correspondent inferences are a direct measure of a celebrity's credibility in the specific context of the advertisement, and thus should predict consumers' attitudes toward the advertised product.H1. =Correspondent inferences will be positively associated with attitudes toward the advertised product. Another interesting question in this context is whether consumers will tend to make correspondent inferences about celebrity endorsers. Early social psychological work in attribution theory suggests not a large endorsement fee should be viewed as a strong incentive toward endorsement behavior, and thus observers should doubt that endorsements reflect true liking for the product on the part of the endorser. However, research indicating that Advertising Strategies are especially credible and trustworthy endorsers (e.g. Freiden, 1984) suggests that consumers might believe Advertising Strategies like the product regardless of endorsement fees. Furthermore, research examining a phenomenon called correspondence bias suggests that observers are biased such that they tend to attribute behavior to personal characteristics of the

18

individual performing that behavior (e.g. liking for the product) even when situational factors (e.g. endorsement fees) are sufficient to fully explain the behavior. Celebrity attributes that influence endorsement effectiveness Previous research examining the effectiveness of Advertising Strategies has focused primarily on personal attributes of the celebrity that enhance his or her persuasiveness For example, a number of researchers have used models in which source credibility, typically viewed as a function of trustworthiness and expertise, is the primary factor determining how influential the endorser will be Trustworthiness refers to the general believability of the endorser, and is thus broader but conceptually similar to correspondent inferences about the endorser. Expertise refers to the product knowledge of the endorser and thus to the validity of his or her claims regarding the product, and is believed to be a factor that increases persuasiveness above and beyond the effects of trustworthiness.H3.=Perceived product knowledge of the endorser will be positively associated with attitudes toward the advertised product.Other researchers have emphasized the importance of source attractiveness in determining liking for the endorser and thereby increasing endorsement effectiveness To the extent that attractiveness is an important determinant of endorsement effectiveness, research based on the matchup hypothesis for a discussion of the matchup hypothesis in relation to endorser expertise) suggests that its importance is limited by the degree to which attractiveness fits well with the advertised product Thus, for example, physical attractiveness might be useful when selling cosmetics but not when selling computers. Furthermore, although source attractiveness research has focused primarily on physical attractiveness, attractiveness can also be viewed more generally as a positive attitude toward the endorser. Such positive attitudes might result from admiration or perceived similarity although effective advertising is more likely to rely on the admiration component because the influential power of Advertising Strategies is closely connected to their status as role models. Advertising and marketing have become an essential part of the business world. If you have a good product or an efficient service to offer, you need to master the art of selling it. While some advertising agencies might stick to conventional advertising methods, most of the leading players are resorting to fresh and modern advertising methods. There is a new cult of modern advertisers who are experimenting with ideas that are truly

19

modern and innovative! Newspaper advertisements and colored fliers are so pass! Say hello to the era of instant, quick, smart and out-of-the box ideas! If you still associate advertising with the newspaper ads, televisions ads or radio ads for that matter, then you definitely need a refresher course. So let's get started. Here is a brief tutorial on modern advertising. Modern Advertising Methods There are different types of advertising and advertising techniques that are available for promoting products and services. However, here are some of the latest and hottest trends in advertising that are gaining popularity. People are now looking for new types of advertising appeals that they can target. Many of the new-age advertising methods are a result of the advent of the Internet, while some of the trends are just novel ideas that have transformed mundane advertising media into brilliant and witty advertising methods! Internet advertising is a vast concept and it entails several sub-types, many of which have been only recently introduced. Email advertising is one of the earlier trends, while the new ones include banner advertising, pixel advertising, blog advertising, keyword advertising and contextual advertising. Let's take a look at some of the most widely used modern advertising methods. Web Banner Advertising If billboard advertising is used on roads, then a similar type called banner advertising is used on the web. Have you noticed the horizontal advertisement strips that are seen at the top of almost every web page? These are we banners. Web banners are usually constructed using images, or JavaScript, or any other multimedia objects and animation. Web banners are usually linked to web pages that are related to the content on the existing website. Bandwagon Advertising This is nothing but a propaganda advertising technique, which aims at convincing the user that everyone else is using the products or everyone in the customer base, is in favor of the brand and so he must do so too. This compels the consumer to at least think about buying that product and check what everyone else is raving about and in turn 'jump on

20

the bandwagon'. Bandwagon advertising is a strategy that is based on consumer psychology and hence, is an effective advertising technique which can be used via any media, be it print, electronic or broadcast. Promotional Advertising Promotional advertising involves the use of promotional give-away items or promotional media events, which help to garner public attention and are an effective way of advertising. Handing out promotional freebies is a modern advertising technique that is innovative and very effective as well. Testimonials and Endorsements Ever wondered why Colgate brought Brooke Shields on board to promote their toothpaste? Or did you know that Keanu Reeves had once been a part of an advertisement for Corn Flakes? Well, an endorsement from a celebrity or a public figure is reason enough for certain customers to try a particular product. Such testimonials or endorsements are a great way to advertise particular products and services. Another evolved version of this being a new type called covert advertising, involves the use of brand names or actual products in movies or television shows in an indirect form of advertising. Surrogate Advertising Several national laws have banned the advertising of products like alcohol or cigarettes. Owing to this, many umbrella brands have come up with an advertising technique which only promotes the umbrella brand name which of course, also reminds the consumer of the products that have been banned from advertising. For example, Kingfisher doesn't need to advertise its beer when the general brand name, also conferred to the aircraft, is being advertised publicly. Pixel Advertising Pixel advertising is a new type of Internet advertising in which the cost of an advertisement is calculated based on the number of pixels it occupies. This form of

21

advertising originated in late 2005, when a British student Alex Tew came up with a website called The Million Dollar Homepage, where advertisers could buy advertising space at the rate of $1 per pixel with a space limit of one million pixels. In addition to the space options provided by the hosting websites, there is also the option of using Do-itYourself (DIY) pixel scripts, which ensures that people who do not understand the intricacies of the pixel ads can incorporate the pixel ads in their website without any hassles. Some of the commonly used DIY pixel scripts are Million Pixel Script and the GPix Pixel Ad Script. Contextual Advertising Do you notice how Google generates ads that are relevant to your search query? Or more recently, have you noticed the Google ads that show up next to your emails in the Google mail service? Well, if you are one of those people who still haven't noticed this, then you need to wake up and smell the coffee. Google Adsense was the first contextual advertising venture. Contextual advertising is a very specifically targeted form of Internet marketing in which the advertisements are selected by automated systems based on the content being viewed by a particular user. The automated system scans the text of a website for keywords and sends advertisements that match the content which the user is viewing. Many search engines also make use of contextual advertising for displaying ads on the search result pages, such that the ads match the things that the user is looking up on the web. After Google started this trend, there were many others like Yahoo! and Microsoft who followed suit. Keyword Advertising Commonly, keyword advertising is also known as pay per click advertising or cost per action advertising. Although Yahoo was the first company to venture into keyword advertising, it is Google Adwords program which is now most popular for its keyword advertising. Some of the popular search engines, which are into keyword advertising, include Yahoo! Search Marketing, Microsoft adCenter, Miva and LookSmart.

22

Blog Advertising If you thought that a blog was nothing but an online journal, then you are wrong. Owing to the tremendous popularity of blogs, advertisers have wisely used blogs as effective advertising and marketing tools. Corporate blogs are an excellent way for companies to reach out to their customer base on the Internet. Advertising blogs often make use of Search Engine Marketing techniques, which ensure better results on the web. Bathroom Advertising Truly out-of-the-box, isn't it? Yes, bathroom advertising is nothing but placement of advertisements in public restrooms. A research was carried out, in which a test group of people visiting a restroom were asked whether they noticed the advertisements in there, and surprisingly, a major percentage of the group were seen to have a high retention of the advertisements. This led to the conclusion that people visiting the restroom are a good target audience. Bathroom advertising is soon catching up as an effective advertising tool. Mobile Advertising Yes, as annoying as it might be for you to receive advertisements on your cell phone, it is now a fact that mobile advertising or cell phone advertising is one of the most effective ways of advertising. Most of the time, advertisers have a data of mobile numbers of their existing customer base as well as a list of phone numbers of people who might be potential customers. A message on the mobile phone rarely goes unnoticed and hence, qualifies as an effective marketing or advertising tool! Public Relations Advertising Maintaining and developing good public relations has been a marketing tool for companies to maintain goodwill amongst employees as well as clients. It is not only a way to be in the public eye, but also a great way to build and maintain a particular brand image and identity. Public relations is thus a great advertising tool which is used by companies to reach out to their investors, employees and of course, their existing and potential customer base.

23

As you can see, the field of advertising has evolved and reached the masses in ways that were perceived to be unimaginable a decade ago. All thanks to huge developments and innovations in the field of technology, advertising is now present almost everywhere we go, in almost every form we can imagine. Don't believe it? Just look around you! The argument for Advertising Strategies Brands have been leveraging celebrity appeal for a long time. Across categories, whether in products or services, more and more brands are banking on the mass appeal of Advertising Strategies. As soon as a new face ascends the popularity charts, advertisers queue up to have it splashed all over. Witness the spectacular rise of Sania Mirza and Irfan Pathan in endorsements in a matter of a few months. The accruement of Advertising Strategies can be justified by the following advantages that are bestowed on the overall brand:

Establishment of Credibility: Approval of a brand by a star fosters a sense of trust for that brand among the target audience- this is especially true in case of new products. We had the Shah Rukh-Santro campaign. At launch, Shah Rukh Khan endorsed Santro and this ensured that brand awareness was created in a market, which did not even know the brand.

Ensured Attention: Advertising Strategies ensure attention of the target group by breaking the clutter of advertisements and making the ad and the brand more noticeable.

PR coverage: is another reason for using Advertising Strategies. Managers perceive Advertising Strategies as topical, which create high PR coverage. A good example of integrated celebrity campaigns is one of the Worlds leading pop groups, the Spice Girls, who have not only appeared in advertisements for Pepsi, but also in product launching and PR events.

Time saving: Celebrity is able to build brand credibility in a short period of time. Higher degree of recall: People tend to commensurate the personalities of the celebrity with the brand thereby increasing the recall value. Golf champion Tiger Woods has endorsed American Express, Rolex, and Nike. Actress Catherine Zeta-

24

Jones is used by T-Mobile and Elizabeth Arden. 007 Pierce Brosnan promotes Omega, BMW, and Noreico.

Associative Benefit: A celebritys preference for a brand gives out a persuasive message - because the celebrity is benefiting from the brand, the consumer will also benefit.

Mitigating a tarnished image: Cadbury India wanted to restore the consumer's confidence in its chocolate brands following the high-pitch worms controversy; so the company appointed Amitabh Bachchan for the job. Last year, when the even more controversial pesticide issue shook up Coca-Cola and PepsiCo and resulted in much negative press, both soft drink majors put out high-profile damage control ad films featuring their best and most expensive Advertising Strategies. While Aamir Khan led the Coke fightback as an ingenious and fastidious Bengali who finally gets convinced of the product's `purity,' PepsiCo brought Shah Rukh Khan and Sachin Tendulkar together once again in a television commercial which drew references to the `safety' of the product indirectly.

Psychographic Connect: Advertising Strategies are loved and adored by their fans and advertisers use stars to capitalise on these feelings to sway the fans towards their brand.

Demographic Connect: Different stars appeal differently to various demographic segments (age, gender, class, geography etc.). Mass Appeal: Some stars have a universal appeal and therefore prove to be a good bet to generate interest among the masses. Providing testimony: Another benefit of using celebrity endorsers is that s/he can provide testimony for a product or service, particularly when the product has contributed to their celebrity. The more familiar an endorser, the more likely consumers are to buy the endorsed product.

Rejuvenating a stagnant brand: With the objective of infusing fresh life into the stagnant chyawanprash category and staving off competition from various brands, Dabur India roped in Bachchan for an estimated Rs 8 crore.

25

The argument against Advertising Strategies The celebrity approach has a few serious risks: 1. The reputation of the celebrity may derogate after he/she has endorsed the product: Pepsi Cola's suffered with three tarnished Advertising Strategies - Mike Tyson, Madonna, and Michael Jackson. Since the behaviour of the Advertising Strategies reflects on the brand, celebrity endorsers may at times become liabilities to the brands they endorse. 2. The vampire effect: This terminology pertains to the issue of a celebrity overshadowing the brand. If there is no congruency between the celebrity and the brand, then the audience will remember the celebrity and not the brand. Examples are the campaigns of Dawn FrenchCable Association and Leonard Rossiter Cinzano. Both of these campaigns were aborted due to Advertising Strategies getting in the way of effective communication. Another example could be the Castrol commercial featuring Rahul Dravid. 3. Inconsistency in the professional popularity of the celebrity: The celebrity may lose his or her popularity due to some lapse in professional performances. For example, when Tendulkar went through a prolonged lean patch recently, the inevitable question that cropped up in corporate circles - is he actually worth it? The 2003 Cricket World Cup also threw up the Shane Warne incident, which caught Pepsi off guard. With the Australian cricketer testing positive for consuming banned substances and his subsequent withdrawal from the event, bang in the middle of the event, PepsiCo - the presenting sponsor of the World Cup 2003 - found itself on an uneasy wicket 4. Multi brand endorsements by the same celebrity would lead to overexposure: The novelty of a Advertising Strategies gets diluted if he does too many advertisements. This may be termed as commoditisation of Advertising Strategies, who are willing to endorse anything for big bucks. Example, MRF was among the early sponsors of Tendulkar with its logo emblazoned on his bat. But now Tendulkar endorses a myriad brands and the novelty of the Tendulkar-MRF campaign has scaled down.

26

5. Advertising Strategies endorsing one brand and using another (competitor): Sainsburys encountered a problem with Catherina Zeta Jones, whom the company used for its recipe advertisements, when she was caught shopping in Tesco. A similar case happened with Britney Spears who endorsed one cola brand and was repeatedly caught drinking another brand of cola on tape. 6. Mismatch between the celebrity and the image of the brand: Advertising Strategies manifest a certain persona for the audience. It is of paramount importance that there is an egalitarian congruency between the persona of the celebrity and the image of the brand. Each celebrity portrays a broad range of meanings, involving a specific personality and lifestyle. Madonna, for example, is perceived as a tough, intense and modern women associated with the lower middle class. The personality of Pierce Brosnan is best characterized as the perfect gentlemen, whereas Jennifer Aniston has the image of the good girl from next door. Brand, Advertising Strategies & Consumer

Factors Impacting a Brand while being viewed by a Consumer in Media

27

The model above shows the various factors that affect a celebrity endorsed brand while viewed by a consumer in the media (both TV and print). The central idea being the impact on brand. The three major parts to a brand being shown are: The Product Advertisement The celebrity endorsing it It is important is to study the relationship between these factors and how they together act for or against the brand. The product is important, of course, it may fulfill a need, want or a desire. Quality is quintessential and, hence, nowadays it is understood the product is of highest quality. So what next? The advertisement is important as a good product could see an early exit if the advertisement is handled badly, and otherwise, a mediocre product which is tastefully handled goes a long way. Lastly, the celebrity in the advertisement, recall, trust, familiarity are some of the reasons that they are used. Now consider the interactions of these individual factors. The best of superstars can be doing the advertisement but if the product is far from the image the star has, the whole advertisement is a waste. Imagine an Amitabh doing an advertisement for ad for youth apparel. Well, exceptions can be there but then again it depends on the way it is done. Believability is of vital importance, the TVS Victor advertisement shows us the bike being compared to the bat of Sachin and the strokes he plays. (Classically executed advertisement with the bike and Sachin coming out as winners). The relationship between a product and its advertisement again can be either dependant or none. In that case, a shock value makes people remember the brand better and, hence, a possible long term loyalty. Selection of Celebrity Anyone who is famous may be the right celebrity. However, the appropriateness of the celebrity largely depends on the product or service. Most advertisers insist that their celebrity spokespeople have charisma and current popularity. That is why we see more movie and television stars, athletes, real-life heroes, and musicians acting as brand ambassadors in the market.

28

The choice of celebrity is critical for the success of the advertisement. The celebrity should have high recognition, high positive affect, and the image of the celebrity must match with that of the product. For this reason, famous sportsmen are used to endorse sporting goods: Michael Jordan & Nike, Tiger Woods and Nike, David Beckham endorses Adidas, etc. While it is totally inappropriate for movie stars to endorse a sports products. Advertising Strategies must be used judiciously. If the celebrity is too famous or too popular, then the celebrity will overpower the product - i.e., people will remember seeing only the celebrity and forget the product. This happened when Britney Spears came in a Pepsi Commercial in 2001. Britney Spears was at the height of her popularity - viewers saw the advertisement to see Britney Spears and forgot all about Pepsi. In India, Hollywood actress Dimple Kapadia in a sexy swim wear was used in a Cinthol soap advertisement - People remember seeing the actress - but the soap was forgotten. The cost benefit analysis of using celebrity in marketing communications is bit tricky. But the general belief is that using celebrity is a lot cheaper in building a brand. For example, S.Kumars built the brand "Reed & Taylors" as a premier suiting material by having Amitab Bachan in its advertisements. To achieve the same without a celebrity would have taken longer time & more money. In a span of less than two years after launch, the brand Reed & Taylors" has become the second largest seller of cloth for mens suits in India.

29

Selection of the right celebrity is crucial. The needs of the brandrather than the fame of the celebrityshould be the primary criteria when selecting a celebrity spokesperson. The celebrity's physical attractiveness, values, and credibility also matter tremendously. However, it would be suicidal to forget about the target audience. Types of Advertising Strategies Celebrity branding has many aspects. A slight change in the type of branding used can result in either a great success or a dismal failure. Celebrity branding falls into five general categories:

Testimonial: The celebrity acts as a spokesperson for the brand. Imported: The celebrity performs a role known to the audience. Invented: The celebrity plays a new, original role. Observer: The celebrity assumes the role of an observer commenting on the brand. Harnessed: The celebrity's image is integrated with the ad's storyline. Approximately 60-70% of all television commercials feature famous people. Aishwarya Rai had once endorsed 'Fuji-Film' camera rolls. The company made an agreement with her to endorse their camera rolls. But, Aishwarya's magic did not work there and they had to terminate the contract.

Facts over the Years

Amitabh Bachchan (AB) was seen endorsing Maruti's Versa Car. The AB factor worked wonders as far as generating curiosity was concerned but the actual product couldn't meet the expectations of people, and hence, the endorsement strategy didn't work. He has been used very effectively by Parker Pens, ICICI Bank and Cadbury's to name a few.

Batas sales doubled soon after they adopted Rani Mukherjee as their brand ambassador. Magic Johnson lost his endorsement deals when he announced in 1991 that he's HIV-positive. It wasn't until July 2003 that he landed his first endorsement deal since the announcement.

Ticket sales at Wimbledon are known to have shot up significantly for all matches featuring the latest 'sex-symbol' on the circuit - Anna Kournikova. An average 30

player who is yet to win even a single tennis tournament, Anna is known to have earned far more from endorsements than her tennis career could ever have given her. Advertising Strategies as a Strategy How Tiger Woodss endorsement of Accenture is beneficial to the company in sending the message of high performance. This is just an example of having Advertising Strategies. Marketers of consumer products have long used Advertising Strategies to endorse their product - and this has become a common strategy. I therefore have chosen to write about the theory and the intentions behind the strategy of using Advertising Strategies.

Objectives of Marketing Communications Defining the objectives of the advertisements is the first step. In general, there are four major objectives for any advertisement. Note that not all advertisements need to have all the objectives. 1. Establish the product need stablishing a need for a product or a product category is the necessary first step. This is more important in new-to-world category of products In Indian context, consider the advertisement for Polio Immunization drive - the TV advertisement featured Amitab Bachan telling that immunization is a must for every child while people suffering from polio are shown in the background along with healthy kids. This advertisement used a celebrity to create the need for polio immunization. Another good example is Toyotas advertisement of Innova in India. The TV advertisement prominently shows Amir Khan playing different roles while traveling in an Innova. The different roles - establish the need for such a big car in India. ( Note that Indian car market is dominated by small cars - which can seat only four adults, Toyota wanted to establish the need for a 8 seater car in India)

31

2. Create Brand Awareness Once the need for a product is established, customers must be able to associate the brand with the product category. For example iPod is strongly associated with portable MP3 players, Nike with sports shoes etc.. A classic example of this is Nikes use of Michael Jordan advertising for Nike. This advertisement instantly created a strong association of Nike with basketball shoes. 3. Set customer expectations Brand value comes from the customers experience with the product. If the product meets or beats his expectations, then a positive brand image is created, else a negative brand image is created. Therefore it is essential to set the customer expectations accordingly. This is most common in established consumer products - Beauty products, household cleaning products, food products etc.

Create a purchase intention These are marketing promotion advertisements - Buy one, get one free, or get additional discounts if you buy within a particular date etc.. The sole purpose of such communication messages is to encourage customers to buy immediately or within a short period after seeing Use of Advertising Strategies to create a purchase intention has been very limited. This is mainly because such advertisements adversely affect the personality brand value of the celebrity. Being associated with a discount deal is not favorable image for the celebrity and the customer.

32

FINDINGS & ANALYSIS

Kingfisher Airlines is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Breweries Holdings Limited (the second largest brewery group in the world), the UB Group's investments holding company. Kingfisher Airlines has been allocated the IATA airline code of 'IT'. The UB Group is one of India's largest conglomerates with a turnover of US $2 billion and is the largest Indian manufacturer of beverage alcohol-beer and liquor. With the foray of UB Groups birds into the Indian aviation industry, Kingfisher Airlines has become a force to reckon with. The Airline already has a number of firsts to its credit. Kingfisher Airlines Limited is an airline company based in Bangalore, India. This airline was introduced in the market to target the domestic luxury segment. Kingfisher Airlines was introduced into the Indian airline market by the Indian Business Tycoon Dr Vijay Mallya (the owner of United Breweries Limited). It was introduced on 9th May, 2005. It operates in 37 destinations with 218 flights a day. It has a fleet size of 71 and also the first Indian domestic airlines to introduce the Airbus A380. Kingfisher is one of only six airlines in the world to have a five-star rating from Skytrax, along with Asiana Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways. Kingfisher airlines have been awarded The best new airline of the year 2005. Presently kingfisher airlines has acquired Air Deccan (one of the major profitable domestic low cost airline) hence penetrating into the lower segment of the market too. Ref: (www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/06/01/stories/2007060106400100.htm) Vijay Mallya Vijay Mallya is 51 years old was born in India. Vijay Mallya has amassed an enormous fortune from inherited and growing. With an estimated current net worth of around $1.5 billion, he is ranked by Forbes (2007) as the 692th-richest person in world. UB group chairman Vijay Mallya, a trained pilot himself and an avid aviation enthusiast, has delivered an ultimate product to the Indian aviation industry which is called as Kingfisher Airlines, names after the popular liquor brand of the UB group (Taking a very different approach again).

33

Ref: (www.how-to-make-more-money.com/Vijay-Mallya_biography.html) Characteristics of Vijay Mallya Grasp opportunities: Since the Indian aviation industry is a growing market, Vijay Mallya positively noticed the opportunities of expansion in this industry hence launched Kingfisher Airlines. Risk taker: Vijay Mallya did know the strong competition he would have to face from the old player Jet Airways which could shatter his dreams but he never went on a back foot, instead he took the risk of launching Kingfisher Airlines with a focused aim of conquering the industry. Need for achievement: Vijay Mallya is very much known for his different approaches in any industry which helps him outplay the others. To capture every possible industry has been his goal from the start of his business career. Sense of independence: Vijay Mallya likes to be his own boss rather than working in someones shoes. The freedom to play and create a market of his own makes him a successful Tycoon. Ability to accept change: Though Vijay Mallya makes his own stand in the market but all his groups have be very much adaptive to the changes in both the external and internal environment. Ref: (www.gaebler.com/entrepreneur-characteristics.htm)

Audit of Kingfisher Airlines This audit deals with the present situation in various areas of the organisation. 1. Strategic Planning Target Market: The Company has targeted a niche market for its operations. The company operates in the luxury segment of the Indian aviation industry and leads the competition with its world class services at competitive prices

34

Master strategy to stay ahead of the competition: The Company has adopted aggressive strategy of customer acquisition through world class services which have increased their market share and made them a preferred choice within the customer base.

Transparency within the organisation: The employees are aware of the companys policies and the top management encourages the employees to develop their skills to help them become the best in the industry

Potential opportunities for business development: The Company has overtaken its competitors in order to extend their services in the low cost segment along with the existing premium class and this has provided them with an opportunity to develop and extend their operations more profoundly.

2. Organisational Structure Relationship between individuals and functions: There are specific people for specific jobs in the company and the company has hired some of the most experienced people in the industry to help them move towards their goal of becoming a leading player in the Indian aviation industry Job description: There are clearly defined roles in the top and the middle management and these are complimented by the ground level employees in

the company. The company has a sound organizational structure which is backed up by a strong parent company. 3. Human Resource Management Recruitment: Recruiting quality people is a major plus point of the company. They hire the best people in the industry and pay them handsomely so that they contribute to the companys goals and ambitions to the best of their capabilities. The crew members of Kingfisher are paid more than their counterparts in any other airline company in India.

35

Training: The Company provides its employees with suitable training and development opportunities to help them grow and develop their skills which are unmatched in the industry. This aspect of their training has helped their employees in creating a sound impression on their customers and they have become a highly admired airline company in India.

Performance appraisal: The employees are paid good salaries and performance based incentives to motivate them even more.

4. Marketing & Sales Promotion Market Segment: The Company operates in the premium segment of the Indian domestic segment offering world class flying experience to its customers. The company is entering into the low cost sector along with the existing premium segment. Mode of Marketing & Sales: The Company does extensive marketing through celebrities, sponsorship of sports events etc. The sales are mainly done through offices and websites and through SMS booking. Market Research: The Company has done an extensive market research before entering into the aviation industry and they have specifically targeted a niche market wherein they are concentrating on the premium segment. They are also entering into the low cost segment through acquisition of smaller competitors.

5. Pricing of Products Pricing Strategy: The Company offers world class services at the most competitive prices. Their services are rated as the best in the Indian aviation industry and their pricing strategy aims at acquiring customers from their competitors by providing state of the art services at very competitive prices.

36

Break-Even Analysis: The company carefully analyzes its load factors in order to optimize their investments in the operations and to break even because they are operating in a very dynamic industry and it is very crucial for them to have a measure their costs so that they can optimize the profitability of their operations.

6. Location Accessibility to Market: They have a good accessibility to their target market through modern fleet of aircraft and the best trained staff in the industry. They are backed up by a strong parent company so they can afford to spend considerable sums of money to establish themselves as a major player in the Indian domestic airline industry. Availability of customers: They have earned their customers trust with their services over time and have willing customers ready to use their services again and again and this has given them an edge over their competitors.

7. Planning for Growth Advance Planning: They are entering into the low cost sector along with their existing operations in the premium segment and this offers excellent chances for future growth as they will have a monopoly in the industry through a well targeted product mix wherein they will have a major share of both segments. Recurring Crises: Despite their best efforts to become the best airline in the industry, they have not been able to make considerable profits ever since their introduction in the industry. They are lagging behind the nearest rival but they are still trying their best to cope up and become a market leader. Ref: (www.prenhall.com/scarbzim/html/smallbus.html)

37

SWOT Analysis

A scan of the internal and external environment is an important part of the strategic planning process. Environmental factors internal to the firm usually can be classified as strengths (S) or weaknesses (W), and those external to the firm can be classified as opportunities (O) or threats (T). Such an analysis of the strategic environment is referred to as a SWOT analysis. The SWOT analysis provides information that is helpful in matching the firms resources and capability. Source: (http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/swot)

SWOT analysis for Kingfisher Airlines

Strengths: Kingfisher Airlines have targeted the Indian domestic luxury segment, therefore operating in a niche market. Kingfisher Airlines has a strong financial support from the parent company UB Group and Kingfisher itself is a well established brand. The customer service provided on Kingfisher is extremely exceptional for a domestic airline, hence providing an ultimate flying experience. Kingfisher Airlines is well known for its highly trained and attractive staff.

Weakness: The company has a immature organisational structure and lacks mature management practices. The company is unable to generate expected returns on the investments done.

38

Loads are lesser than that of its competitor Jet Airways which is a reflection of its marketing and sales capabilities.

The main weakness of the company is the overspending of funds.

Opportunities: The Indian aviation industry is a growing industry with a growth rate of nearly 24%. There are a large number of domestic untapped routes. There has being a growth in the disposable income of the people especially in the middle class, therefore more people can afford to fly by a luxury airline. The air cargo market is still untapped.

Threats: Fierce competition from other airlines such as Jet Airways Cost cutting is become a prime need in the aviation industry, hence pressurising a lot of airline companies Infrastructure constraints The major rises in fuel prices

39

Industrial life cycle

Indian aviation industry growth rate=24% Kingfisher airlines growth rate=37%

Fig 1: Distribution of players in the Indian Aviation Industry

India is the 3rd fastest growing domestic aviation market in the world with a growth rate of about 24%.Indian Subcontinent is the third largest market for new aircraft in Asia, behind China (1790) & Japan (640). More and more middle class families now prefer air travel to traditional rail travel this because of the growing income which is over Rs 90,000 per annum for a normal employees. People are also having an increasing disposable income. The Indian aviation has swiftly expanded after its liberation with the ending of government protection for Indian Airlines, the adoption

40

of an open skies agreement with the United States and the loosening of a previously tightly restrictive quota pact with Britain, hence making the Indian market very exciting to carry out business. These are the some of the possible factors that drove the Indian flamboyant business tycoon Vijay Mallya to eye this particular market. Since the introduction of Kingfisher Airlines it has maintained a rapid growth rate of about 37% which is really extremely remarkable. Ref: (www.coolavenues.com/know/gm/manasi_6.php3)

41

Competitors analysis Attributes Kingfisher Airlines Price 25% than Airways Indian Permission to It has fly to US Permission to It hasnt fly to UK IPO EMI scheme Targeted Customers Positioning Floated It doesnt Floated It doesnt Not yet It has Not yet It doesnt It has NA NA It has NA NA higher Lower Jet Kingfisher and Airlines than Lower than Jet Extremely low Airways Jet Airways Indian Spice Jet

Both ends of Both ends of Lower end of Lower end of customers Premium segment customers customers customers Lowest fares

Two-class, full- Low fares service leverage domestic international reach airline its and that will further

and no frills

Kingfishers only strong obstacle proves to be Jet Airways, since Jet has control on both ends of the market and secondly it has penetrated into the international market as well. Benchmarking against Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines has acquired Air Deccan

42

which was one of the most profitable low cost airlines, hence kingfisher too has entered in the lower end of the market but bearing in mind that they havent changed the name Deccan to Kingfisher Airlines so that the brand doesnt lower. Kingfisher is still testing the lower end of the market with Deccan. Kingfisher is also going to start nonstop flights to US so as to foray into the international market. New players into the market Name Magic Air Go Indus Inter Air One Crystal Air Paramoun t Air Visa East Air West Airlines Type No frills Low domestic Cost airlines Value carrier Low Cost Regional Regional Regional Low Value Cost carrier

Airlines Airways Globe

Ref: (www.coolavenues.com/know/gm/manasi_8.php3)

Porters 5 Forces for Kingfisher Airlines

43

Fig 2: Porters 5 Forces for Kingfisher Airlines

Threats from competitors: The level of threat from the domestic competitors is very high. Competitors like Jet Airways, Indian are some of the old well established players in the market which prove to be strong competitors for the emerging Kingfisher Airlines

Threats from new entrants: The level of threat from new entrants is quite low such as Virgin Atlantic, Qantas. The major players in the Indian aviation industry form an obstacle to foreign airlines and moreover Indian flyers prefer to have an Indian experience on the flight.

Threats of substitutes:

44

The introduction of high speed trains, high tech buses and other means of transport has given more options to people to travel. Bargaining power of suppliers: The bargaining power of suppliers is medium. For example, Airbus and Boeing are the major aircraft manufacturers and there arent many aircraft manufacturers other than these two, this confines Kingfishers options therefore the bargaining power of Airbus or Boeing increases. In case of other suppliers such as caters the bargaining power of the suppliers is low therefore Kingfisher has many other options of caters to contract to.

Bargaining power of customers: The bargaining power of the customers is low since kingfisher is designed to meet the total comfort and value for money; therefore customers arent reluctant to pay a little more sum to gain this experience.

Position of Kingfisher Airlines The position of Kingfisher Airlines in the market can be determined using the Bowmans Clock.

Bowmans clock: The 'Strategy Clock' is based upon the work of Cliff Bowman (see C. Bowman and D. Faulkner 'Competitve and Corporate Strategy - Irwin - 1996). It's another suitable way to analyze a company's competitive position in comparison to the offerings of competitors. As with Porter's Generic Strategies, Bowman considers competitive advantage in relation to cost advantage or differentiation advantage. Ref: (www.marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_bowman.htm)

45

Fig 3: Bowmans Clock

1 - Low price/low added value - Likely to be segment specific 2 - Low price - Risk of price war and low margins/need to be a 'cost leader'.

3 Hybrid - Low cost base and reinvestment in low price and differentiation

4 - Differentiation Without a price premium - Perceived added value by user, yielding market share benefits With a price premium -Perceived added value sufficient to bear price premium

5 - Focused differentiation - Perceived added value to a 'particular segment' warranting a premium price

46

6 - Increased price/standard - Higher margins if competitors do not value follow/risk of losing market share.

7 - Increased price/low values - Only feasible in a monopoly situation

8 - Low value/standard price - Loss of market share

Ref: (www.marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_bowman.htm)

Focused Differentiation (Kingfisher Airlines) Kingfisher Airlines operates in a niche market which is the luxury segment of the market therefore on the bowmans clock it lies on the focused differentiation. The prices of the air tickets for Kingfisher Airlines is comparatively higher than other airlines but the benefits and services rendered by them is exceptionally excellent. Brand loyalty: Vijay Mallya himself is a brand in the first place and the brand kingfisher has also established a remarkable standing in the market place. Even before the introduction of Kingfisher Airlines into the aviation industry the company always thought the brand image of Kingfisher must always outstand in any industry. Therefore focus on quality service, entertainment and better technology made Kingfisher Airlines to be known as a unique airline. Kingfisher airlines address all its customers as guests rather than passengers which bring a sense of importance in the flyers mind. Insulation from competitors: Kingfisher Airlines is the only domestic airline that has the technology and standards as that of an international flight. Since the UB group stands as a strong financial support for Kingfisher behind it, hence these milestones are been able to be crossed. These factors prove out be a competitive edge for Kingfisher over other competitors.

47

 Excellent marketing skills: Vijay Mallya has always used celebrities as his medium to deliver his products to the customer. Popular celebrities like Katrina Kaif, Shah Rukh Khan have always been in his good books. He even endorses his products through sports like F1, golf, cricket so as to popularize his brand which has turned out to be successful strategy. Promotions are also done through events, parties and swimsuit calendars that have been the key strategy to concentrate the youth. Additional services: SMS ticketing and Web check in has been organised by this airlines for the ease of their customers. Kingfisher is the only domestic airline that has the home ticket delivery service as their additional service. Highly skilled employees: The recruitment process is personally carried out by the CEO of the company Dr Vijay Mallya to ensure the best possible staffs serve his guests. The company offers an attractive package of Rs 75,000 and additional benefits which is a rare scenario in a domestic airline firm. The employees have to undergo systematic training programmes in order to successfully fly on Mallyas birds. Innovative: The Company has always had the flair for new technology; the future introduction of Airbus A380s would give them a clean advantage in the market. All the aircrafts of Kingfisher are equipped with the CAT-III B technology that is very useful for pilots in case of low visibility therefore avoiding cases of delay or mishaps during bad weather.

Ref: (www.flykingfisher.com)

48

RECOMMENDATIONS
The main purpose of this study was to identify the first source of information of toothpaste brand, to know the media awareness and media behavior of the people, to study the media habit of the people to measure the effectiveness of various electronic Media. We can summarize and concluded the study by the following manner. The brands which are much exposed before the people through various electronic media are used at large. Some brands like Pepsodent and Colgate are frequently exposed with good illustration, are very much used. This clearly shows the effectiveness of electronic media. Whatever information the consumer gets from advertisement which appears on various electronic media, he takes the decision on the basis of those informations. So, whatever informations will be exposed on the electronic media, they will definitely helpful in changing the attitudes of the consumer at large extent. Urban respondents were more exposed to advertisement and had favorable response towards advertisement appearing through various electronic media than the rural respondent.

Television and newspaper were important source of information in the urban areas. Shopkeepers and relatives are other first source of information, so they are also considered as integral part of the media. Now a days television is much popular in rural areas as well as urban areas, thats why maximum companies are taking help from television in exposure of their brands. Radio and cinema were also first source of information for a very few people. After collecting information 88% respondents came across the advertisement about that brand. Out of 88% respondents maximum number of the respondents was exposed with the television followed by the radio and cinema. So, television is the best media exposure and was very effective to the consumer point of view.

49

Consumer responded that advertisement which appears on television were very much effective and such type of respondents are 62% and rest 38% respondent in average affectivity. And this affectivity leads to a consumer for impact on brand preference, because of this reason the brand is preferred. Punch-line, simplicity and contents make the advertisement effective. When the advertisement is exposed on electronic media, these factors are highly considered to create effectiveness.

50

CONCLUSION
Advertising Strategies have always been the easiest way for a new product launch (consumer goods) and will remain to do so in the near future on account of their mass appeal and a world full of star stuck loyal fans. But the impact on the brand is much greater than just an advertisement showing a celebrity. We have seen that the correct choice of a celebrity can surely increase sales but when it comes to long term loyalty and impact on the brand. The effect is yet somewhat debatable. In the end, the product must deliver for the customer, no matter who endorses the product, if the customer does not see himself getting value from his purchase, he will not buy it. But yes, Advertising Strategies over time can influence the loyalty and make a person friendlier to a brand. Brand and Advertising Strategies are here to stay for a long time and in this age of slick advertising and mass media and unthinkable budgets, Advertising Strategies are having a field day charging huge amounts and making more money than their mainstream professions. But then do they really care about the brand? Or is it just the money? But the bottom line, Advertising Strategies are here to stay. Let us accept one thing - the world of advertising and brand building does not believe in the Laissez-Faire principle. Unless you reach out to the customer, make him think and nudge him that little bit, you will fall short of your targets and that is a cardinal sin, given the competition. The brand managers work on an extremely sleek, thought-controlling process which may be propounded as the Multiplier Effect. They are smart, pragmatic people and know very well that Mr. Singh, sitting in his cosy home in Delhi and watching his favourite action hero driving the brand new LX car model, would not walk up to the car showroom next day and book one for himself. They offer simple feelers like concept and lifestyle to him, which are inherent to the product advertisement, with or without the Advertising Strategies. With the use of the celebrity, this effect is shrewdly magnified so as to allow the consumer to equate the personality and the brand together. Hence, whenever the

51

consumer is watching the several images of her favorite actress alone, it conjures up multiple impressions of her sipping the XY brand of coffee, each time. The brand's ultimate goal is to be at the top of her choice bracket and it achieves this goal by being omnipresent in her memory through related celebrity imagery. Does it justify the obscene amounts of money paid to these Advertising Strategies? For firms with annual turnovers in excess of Rs. 1000 crores, an endorsement deal of Rs. 5-6 crores for such a response would indeed be a smart deal. In a Synovate/Blackstone Market Facts Survey in India in late 2003, almost 47% respondents affirmed celebrity influence on their purchase behaviour. That's a lot of people influenced by Advertising Strategies! Talking about successful switchovers by Advertising Strategies among competitive brands, Aamir Khan had a 78% top brand recall with Coke. But such transitions are rare and involve a lot of hard work behind the scenes to dab any leftover effects of the celebrity's previous liaison with the competitor. While speaking of Advertising Strategies, we should be very clear as to who this term connotes to and the powers they carry. Fido Dido for 7-UP, the Amul Girl or Tony the Tiger for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes are as much a celebrity as any breathing face. They reach their target consumer, they move the product, and they carry the brand. That's what counts. Of course, the gestation period is higher in the case of such creatives, but in the event of a hit, the comparative risks are minimized. After all, they cannot get drunk, attract a controversy or commit a crime, as long as the management wants. In short, they are 'safe floaters' vis--vis their unpredictable human counterparts.

52

BIBLIOGRAPHY

www.google .co.in www.yahoo.com www.wikipedia.org Chris Moore of Ogilvy & Mather Philip kotler Advertising Management: Rajeev Batra, John G. Myers & David A. Aaker:

Prentice Hall India.

53