Marketing
Now Airlines want to be in travel business
It has been reported in Economic Times that Kingfisher, SpiceJet and Indigo want to launch a travel portal in order to save on commission. Somehow, it is difficult for me to understand the obsession of airlines to save on travel agent’s commission as if that is the primary reason for the troubles of airlines. It seems that all the airlines think that they will be all become profitable just by eliminating the travel agent’s and travel portal’s commission.
Do not call registry
Sometime back, I had mentioned in one of my blogs that why are we, as a customer, asked to register our names and telephones to stop getting calls which are an invasion of privacy as well as illegal. According to law, unsolicited calls are illegal. The court has also fined the telecom companies as well the association of mobile operators. I felt that it should be other way round, that is, whichever customer wants to receive calls should register their names and telephone numbers. Now this is what the Supreme Court has also suggested.
Lets get rid of the middlemen
Everytime airline industry gets into a problem, it seems that the problem is the travel agents and the commission that they receive. Somehow the whole industry seems to feel that the cause of all their problems are travel agents. The commission given to the travel agents increases the cost of the ticket which results in increasing the cost of travel which in turn reduces the demand and causes severe problems for the airline industry. I am guessing this is the logic behind the thinking of airlines.
Should Indian Express invest in reviving its print media business?
It seems that Indian Express (IE) is going through restructuring so that it can raise funds to revive and grow uits print media business.
Will Hindustan Times plan work? I doubt it.
Hindustan Times, a leading newspaper in the India, has a appointment supplement called Powerjobs which it distributes along with its main paper. Powerjobs supplement from, at least an outsiders perspective, is not doing well even though HT folks have told me that they are making some money from it. The leading appointment supplement is Times of India’s (TOI) Ascent against which the appointment supplements of every other newspaper competes. According to me, the market position of Powerjobs is getting from bad to worse. I don’t remember the last time any of our clients advertised in this paper even though we release appointment advertisements in TOI-Ascent on a regular basis (By the way, I run an advertising agency).
Can somebody flank Coke & Pepsi?
Red Bull is trying to give Coke and Pepsi a run for their money. It seems that Red Bull seems to have the right and the wrong idea. First, what’s right about the idea. It seems that Red Bull is launching a premium cola in the US at $1.49 for a 12 ounce can which is expensive than Coke or Pepsi. There is no premium price cola and they have certainly found a gap in the market. One cannot fight with Pepsi and Coke head on. They have to be attacked from the side, in other words flanked.
Top 3 or out
In an interview in Economic Times (7/3/2008), Aditya Birla stated his criteria for being involved in an industry. He said that he will only participate in an industry only if they have 1,2 or 3 position otherwise they will quit. Well this is nothing new. Actually, its a criteria borrowed from Ex GE’s chairman (I am forgetting his name. Sure sign that I am getting old) who built GE based on the same criteria. However, I do not think this makes sense.
Flanking with Tata’s Nano
There is no one who has siad so far that they will be seriously affected by Tata’s Nano. I think this is the best sign that Nano will succeed as no one considers it a serious competition. What Nano is going to do is flank a number of product categories. It is going to nibble away small market share from a number of products and no one would be any wiser. By the way, the reason for the success of Nirma was that it flanked Surf. Surf didn’t feel that Nirma was a worthy competitor till it was too late. Lets see who all will Nano flank?
Why are we so obsessed with targets?
I think we should do away with targets. Hey, don’t shoot me. Listen to my complete story.
Another gap in the marketplace – Bedrooms in the air
Earlier I had posted an article in which I had stated that “finding a gap” in the marketplace in the key to marketing success. Singalore Airlines has found a gap, that is, provide bedrooms in their A-380 planes. They are starting this on Singapore – Sydney flights. The bedroom cabins will resemble cabins of luxury yachts and will have a private clost, 23 inch video screen, reclining seats, and a built in bed expandable to a double bed. This was based on research which suggested that the premium class customers just wanted to sleep. Of course they have to pay 20% extra bring the Singapore – Sydney fare to $6000.
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