Media source effects on Airlines Industry. British Airways Airline operating business generates some of the highest revenues out of all types of truly global businesses. However, the revenues always have costs. Probably the highest costs of all for airline companies are those related to advertising. Today the market requires new approaches to the questing of correct product positioning and awareness. Upon the example of one of the largest airline companies, The British Airways, I will discuss the importance of correctly chosen advertising media in product promotion, and what effect does it have on the performance of an airline company.
British Airways is quite a conservative airline company. In its advertising it prefers to work with traditional, but not getting less effective because of it, advertising media. And at the same time British Airways cntinues t be ne f the mst frward-thinking cmpanies in their advertising apprach. The three of the most used are: print media, television, and Internet. Watching television is one of the things most of the people do or at least tried to do once. There are people who dont read magazines or work with Internet, but most of us watch television programs.
The company mostly uses television advertising when it tries to find new clients by informing them about the existence of the company. The expansion of the companys operations to the former USSR began with the launch of television clip showing the landscapes of some particular country or continent with the background sound comments about the history or interesting facts of the country. At the end of the clip the logo of the company and saying: Discover the world with best airline in the world. British Airways appeared. The effect of this was quite tangible. The successful clip allowed British Airways to attract prosperous soviet people who never realized before that there is so much in the world to see. At the same time the overall prestige of air travel raised, and this lead to the development of airline industry in the country, which occupies one sixth of the global soil.
As seen television can be used for mass introduction of general service idea. Reaching the largest target group the message should be broad enough for everyone to understand at least something under it. There is no need for many details, just the general concept, prices, and contact information; and, necessarily, all of the above in very attractive packaging. A little more complicated and challenging task is to be advertised in print media or the Internet. The target groups here may vary from some carriage source to the other very drastically. The correctly chosen magazine, newspaper, or website can matter a lot.
However, this type of advertising can be more detailed and its value can be higher. An advertisement in some magazine can reach several potential customers and always stay in front of their eyes when they look through the articles. British Airways prefers to deliver this type of promotion through business periodicals, which are mostly read by business people who travel around the globe. The example could be the most famous Financial Times which is read by 76% of global executives and top managers. On of the most advanced promotion media is Internet. This source is becoming very popular nowadays and soon will be as heavily used as television is today. The advertisements in Internet are particularly interesting because of their possibility of customization.
The new software technologies (like flash programming) allow the interested person not only see all of the details but even have a try of the product. Fr example the launch f British Airways’ newest interactive campaign supprting their “Truly flat beds in business class” in the Internet has been very effective. The campaign ran thrugh 2003, and appeared in print and televisin ads as well as versized nline units and page takevers. Extending the ffline advertisements cnceptual and stylistic strategy, visitrs t nline business and financial news utlets have been given the pprtunity t interact with a 3-D animated demnstratin f hw the Club Wrld Flat Bed reclines a full 180 degrees t ensure a prper night’s sleep. This effrt targets frequent internatinal business travelers t increase British Airways’ brand awareness and the assciatin f the premium airline with the first truly flat bed seat in business class. In order to ensure consistency between online and offline ads, British Airways’ offline agency developed a creative approach that had a similar look and feel for both medias the traditional (TV, Periodicals) and Internet. However, when it comes to combining of all of the above media types the result can be quite unexpectable. In 1999 the neWrld(TM) alliance f British Airways, American Airlines, Canadian Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways and Qantas Airways launched its $15 millin dllars glbal advertising campaign in ver 90 cuntries wrldwide. This advertising campaign has been a visible demnstratin f alliances very targeted marketing strategy arund neWrld.
The ads are dramatic black and white prtraits f glbal business travelers hlding a clr neWrld lg in his r her palm. Each ad is a vignette n the challenges f glbal travel, and is themed arund tw tag lines, “Hw in the wrld des he/she d it?” and “neWrld revlves arund yu.” The print, pster and banner site campaign ran in nine different languages and target custmers in ver 90 cuntries arund the wrld frm Western Sama t Andrra. The campaign appeared in 159 lcal, reginal and glbal publicatins using a cmbinatin f natinal newspapers, business magazines, airprt psters and banners. Ads in Canada appeared in all majr daily newspapers and select magazines. Media Week, a leading advertising industry magazine, has selected the airline alliance’s glbal campaign as the “Best Internatinal Campaign” fr 1999. It must be noted that the campaign would not have been that effective if the selection of media types would have failed. Only the correctly chosen newspaper and magazine titles along with right television programs and Internet sites allowed the strategy of tracking customers through the travel process to be logical, well thought through, and successfully delivered to the customers.
Since OneWorld is a global brand alliance among five of the world’s leading airlines the message had to appear in a global edition of some periodical. OneWorld aimed at all airline travelers regardless of the class they fly with. Therefore the periodical had to be popular, friendly, and associated with cross cultural exchange and understanding. The advertising agency for the alliance decided that one of the best print vehicles for the campaign could be The National Geographic magazine. Being printed today in many countries of the world the magazine delivered the message to the people who are willing to travel, and are very open-minded. These people usually serve as the drive force for their surroundings, and often can lead other people after them. National Geographic is a very respected periodical, which cooperates with scientific and cultural institutions. The information printed in this magazine has never been unprofessional or untruthful.
The reputation of the magazine persuaded the readers that OneWorld is a worthy deal and should be given a particular attention. The appearance of the advertisement in the magazine was also very attractive. Colorful images on one or sometimes two (panoramic) pages pictured in Helvetica Neue Typeface, and reversed white ut f a blue sphere appealed t the reader as something fresh, clean and very light. Besides the person on the advertisement resembled the statistical citizen of the area or country in which the edition of the magazine was published and distributed. The overall message did not carry anything complicated in its essence. OneWorld is about people, and the simplicity of the message was very high. The general moods of the message and the vehicle of advertising coincided.
The OneWorlds idea of bringing the world together is clearly seen in all of the magazines articles. Since the readers of the National Geographic are the people who tend to travel at least once in a while the message of British Airways has definitely reached its target group. The success of OneWorld Alliance and British Airways in part can be contributed to competently planned and flawlessly performed marketing campaign, with successful selection of media..