IndiGo’s ad campaign includes sandwich boxes, sickness bags

Mumbai: India’s largest low-fare carrier IndiGo has launched a thinly veiled attack on closest rival SpiceJet, extending their battle for market share to an advertisement war that doesn’t leave out sandwich boxes and sickness bags.
“Desperation is in the air” is the title of an uncharacteristically hard-hitting print advertisement run by IndiGo, operated by InterGlobe Aviation Pvt. Ltd, which doesn’t mention SpiceJet Ltd by name, but leaves no doubt which competitor it’s referring to.
“Everyone in the airline business is busy making claims,” goes the advertisement that responds to claims made by SpiceJet. “Some say they’re the ‘most preferred airline’, some say they have the best on-time performance, or the more carefully worded ‘one of the best.’ Is that a fact?”
SpiceJet bills itself as India’s “most preferred airline” and claims to have an on-time performance that’s “amongst the best” in India. It has recently become aggressive with advertising on television and in print, claiming to offer the lowest air fares and the highest consumer value. SpiceJet says that it’s the Indian airline with the least cancellations.
A senior IndiGo executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said his airline was changing its strategy of depending on word-of-mouth publicity. “Now it’s time to talk,” he said. The executive didn’t say whether the advertisement was part of a series.
A senior SpiceJet executive, who also didn’t want to be named, said his airline wasn’t perturbed and had no plans to react to IndiGo.
Under a sub-head in the advertisement, titled “The best form of flattery”, IndiGo claims its competitors had adapted its ideas, “from our ads, our custom-shaped sandwich boxes, to our website”.
“Even our airsickness bags haven’t been spared,” it says.
18/02/10 P.R. Sanjai/Live Mint

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Categories: IndiGo Airlines Feb 2010, spicejet Feb 2010