Spicejet name change plan divides experts

New Delhi: The jury is out on Spicejet’s new owner Kalanithi Maran’s proposal to change the name of India’s second largest low-cost carrier at a later date. While some think the move doesn’t make sense, others like Ogilvy & Mather South Asia Chairman Piyush Pandey says it would not make much of a difference provided the process is handled well.
Anand Halve, brand consultant, chlorophyll, says changing the name of Spicejet is not a good idea. “.. Renaming the airline would entail building awareness about the company from scratch which would be a painful as well as an expensive proposition,” he says.
Santosh Desai, CEO, Future Brands agrees. Desai says he sees no overpowering reason that requires changing the name of the brand.
Some others, however, have a different take as the Indian aviation industry has seen such changes earlier as well. Examples: Kingfisher changed the name of Air Deccan to Kingfisher Red and Jet phased out the Sahara Airlines name in favour of JetLite.
O&M’s Pandey says name changes, if done properly, can be effective. For example, there have been four-five name changes for what is known as Vodafone today. From Essar to Orange to Hutch, the company is now called Vodafone.
Halve counters this by saying that Kingfisher is a strong brand in itself. When the airline acquired Deccan it brought the low-cost carrier into its fold because it does not make sense to maintain two brands in the same industry. But Sun Network, which Maran owns, is established in the media and entertainment segment, and aviation is a different ballgame altogether.
17/06/10 Mihir Mishra & Sharmistha Mukherjee/Business Standard

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Categories: New Jun 2010, SpiceJet Jun 2010