SpiceJet to launch biggest advertising campaign for image makeover

MUMBAI: Budget carrier SpiceJet will soon go live with its biggest advertising campaign in the last threefour years. Starting May, the campaign with the tagline "With all our heart" will be splashed across billboards, newspapers, magazines and websites. The airline is also working on a television commercial but will later take a call if and when to launch it, sources said. Instead of playing the usual cards of low fares and timely connectivity, the ad depicts the "warmth, humanity and passion of SpiceJet," its chief operating officer Sanjiv Kapoor told ET.

"The ad seeks to depict the character and strong personality SpiceJet stands for. On time, pricing and connectivity are part of basic hygiene for a carrier. But a brand campaign has to show what the company stands for," he said.


"This is the most visible advertising SpiceJet has done in a few years," added Kapoor. Also, the campaign would feature actual ground staff, pilots and engineers at SpiceJet instead of professional models or a celebrity brand ambassador. "The choice of employee primarily depends on how well he or she has performed at work. Good grooming, rather than good looking would count," he added. Sources said that one of the initial parts of the carrier’s campaign was a video shot with passengers during Holi. However, SpiceJet didn’t release the ad after an impromptu in-flight dance performance by cabin crew on Holi irked the country’s aviation regulator. The DGCA even sent a notice to the airline seeking a reply as to why its licence shouldn’t be cancelled.

The campaign is part of the overall change-of-face and attitude the company has undergone in the past few months. SpiceJet has implemented major changes in management, launched aggressive fare wars and has been the first to take steps such as merging of the base fare and fuel surcharge on its air tickets. The airline has been reeling under heavy losses and looking actively out for much-needed investment. Low fare carriers globally have been cost-conscious, although aggressive in their marketing campaigns.

Carriers such as Ryanair and its easyJet have also piggybacked on aggressive and often controversial potshots at other carriers to grab attention. Ad wars are uncommon in the Indian aviation industry and subtler.

The only one that has made news was a 2007 war of hoardings between Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and Go Air. Jet put up a hoarding with the tagline "We have changed"; Kingfisher the next day put up one one top of it saying "We made them change". And Go Air put one of top of the other two stating "We’ve not changed. We’re still the smartest way to fly".

SpiceJet’s rival and India’s biggest carrier IndiGo has used tactics that experts read as jibes towards its rivals. The airline’s tape at security check areas at airports once read "No red tape", referring to SpiceJet’s signature colour. Kapoor, however, said SpiceJet’s ads would focus on the airline identity only.