Marketing

Communications
@simonnreynolds
Travel; QANTAS Youre the reason we fly & Virgin Australia The Romance is Back

Table of Contents

QANTAS Youre the reason we fly ........................................................................................................... 3

Virgin Australia The Romance is Back .................................................................................................. 4

Market Partitioning / Competitive Frame .............................................................................................. 6

Communication / Campaign Planning Approaches ............................................................................ 7

References & Word Count .............................................................................................................................. 8

QANTAS Youre the reason we fly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jg0Ql3x87M

QANTAS is one of the strongest brands in Australia (Brand Finance 2012), It has had a slew of extremely successful advertising campaigns, the notable example of I Still Call Australia Home which was originally launched in 1997, and still continues to be played at some key national events. Qantas does not need to build further brand recognition. As a branded campaign this advertising communication aims to continue on the strength of the brand and reposition their brand in the market. The objectives behind this campaign was to maintain brand awareness, placing a heavy emphasis on communicating with brand loyals, and place QANTAS first to mind to brand switchers. This communication objective falls in line with their overall brand strategy to be The clear choice for business and premium leisure travellers(QANTAS 2013). The major objective of this advertising communication is to develop their new brand positioning of Youre the reason we fly; becoming a more customer centric offering. QANTAS aim to change attitudes and perceptions of the brand, after a year that was not favourable for the QANTAS brand (Gardiner 2011), people started to lose confidence in the airline and competition has become even more fierce, with Virgin Australia starting to become a strong competitor in the premium and business markets. QANTAS offering requires a high involvement purchase, which it aims to sell using a transformational brand attitude. The slogan Youre the reason we fly predominately triggers emotional and social approval motivations of potential flyers, longing to be understood as a person, and to be recognised personally when being a customer. This ties in strongly with the creative tactic of the communication; delivering a message that is intended to connect on an emotional level. The soundtrack begins with an eerie tone leading up to a crescendo developing an emotional connection for viewers. Aligning with its positioning, the ad primarily displays Australians around the country from the view a plane flying over these destinations. The ad displays real Australians, which further defines its positioning of being Australia and allows it to further emotionally identify itself with the viewer.

The Qantas target customers are a combination of business travellers, and less price sensitive leisure travellers who seek comfort, reliability and peace of mind. This communication is aimed to connect with this target market, reassuring existing brand loyals, that their investment in flying and choosing QANTAS is a superior one, and that they can be safe knowing that QANTAS is working to meet their needs. The advertisement uses an emotional message in an attempt to reconnected with its customers. QANTAS experiencing a rough few years have left many of its customers unhappy with the service, and lost for confidence in the airline. It seems to have developed a emotion based message without first approaching their customers with a rational reason why QANTAS has improved their brand and service. QANTAS has failed to re establish itself to its customer base on a rational level, focusing on the basic principles that has brought it so far within its history. QANTAS should have instead concentrated on its service quality, safety and its reliability, rather than delivering this fluffy and unsubstantiated message. QANTAS has since moved away from this messaging, making it a quite short lived campaign, an indicator that this campaign did not have the substance to really change brand perceptions in the market.

Virgin Australia The Romance is Back http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEhAoZa16rc

Virgin Australia is Australias number 2 airline, it has a strong brand presence among flyers in Australia. This communication aims to further its brand awareness in the Australian airline market, an extremely competitive marketplace. With Virgin being a relatively new carrier in contrast to QANTAS being an iconic Australian brand, and having being around since the 1920s means that many Australians are brand loyal to QANTAS and many have an emotional and patriotic connection to the brand. Virgin Australia have the challenge of establishing an a unique personality which brand switchers can align themselves with as well as attracting potential existing brand loyals of

QANTAS. As mentioned earlier, QANTAS has had a rocky few years, and Virgin has taken this opportunity to capture further market share, especially capturing disgruntled existing brand loyals of QANTAS. The main objective of the advertisement is to establish its positioning and develop a brand attitude of its current, and potential customers of being cool, hip, young, stylish, modern and service driven. The people that work for the airline are its positioning; as they provide a great service, and the Virgin Australia aims this communication to showcase its staff members to develop a positioning that Virgin Australia provides a superior service and romance, creating a personal connection with the people that will be providing you service when you fly. As mentioned previously the premium airline market is a high involvement purchase for many travellers, and Virgin Australia has used strategies that develop transformational brand attitudes. The advertisement connects on an emotional level, showing that flying isnt boring or annoying, Instead the transformational message, appealing to the trendy, modern flyer. The modern, hip stylish nature of the advertisement allows people to identify themselves personally with the brand, and with this brand attitude in mind. The advertisement connects on a personal level, positioning Virgin as more than just an air carrier, and instead suggesting that airline travel with Virgin is a romantic affair, generating emotions of intrigue, and a feeling of passion that will be receive via the level of service provided by the staff. The advertisement does well to emphasise the quality of its aircraft and staff; the TVC shows slick interiors, larger screens on chair backs and well-equipped tray tables, and the designer uniform dressed, confident and friendly looking staff marching confidently in unison. There is a high level of emotional authenticity displayed, as the staff used in the advertisement are all actual staff members of Virgin, which is genuinely representative of the friendliness and professionalism delivered by all Virgin Australia staff members. Virgin Australia target markets sit between Business travellers, and premium leisure travellers. Virgin Australia has developed this brand positioning within these two competitive frames with a specific target market in mind, Target customers of Virgin Australia are a are slightly younger to QANTAS; they care about being trendy and stylish, and want to identify themselves with a modern and forward thinking airline. The Virgin customer is slightly more price sensitive, but still appreciates service, and sees the value in this.

Market Partitioning / Competitive Frame

Figure 1 Market Structure for Airlines in Australia

Airlines within Australia

Premium Airlines

Discount Airlines

Regional Carriers

Australian Airlines QANTAS

International Airlines

Jetstar

Tiger Airlines

Virgin Australia

International Discount Airlines

The airline industry in Australia in its basic form is split up into 3 groups; Regional Airlines, Discount or price focused airlines, and premium or value based Airlines. QANTAS and Virgin fall into the group above of Premium Airlines, targeting less price sensitive travellers, seeking comfort and convenience over the lowest possible price point. It is assumed that in this case that one seeking air travel in Australia, does not consider other forms of travel such as train, bus or driving and thus these substitutes have been excluded from the competitive frame. It is also assumed that a price sensitive traveller does not take into consideration whether an airline is Australian, as rather they fly based on the lowest price available between the two destinations. In contrast an airline traveller who is less price sensitive might take this into consideration, and therefore is it has been partitioned in the above diagram. QANTAS heavily position themselves to be Australian, as they are considered the national airline, they use this to their advantage in their communication to evoke patriotism, and loyalty to the brand. As discussed above, QANTAS and Virgin Australia attempt to differentiate themselves within this competitive frame, and are directly competing for market share within this sub-market.

Communication / Campaign Planning Approaches

Both brands agencies have developed these communications using an extremely well thought out and planned approach to allow the advertising to communicate their individual positioning as well as tie in with their individual brand strategies and identities. Using the communication planning approach is highly important as it considers all aspects involved in planning and communicating a message, and it is important for brands to define their positioning in a concise manner, knowing exactly their objectives and target audience, allowing to develop strategies and tactics that will influence customers perceptions. QANTAS must be commended in executing its planning and media strategy; Although the QANTAS TVC was forefront of the campaign, it approached this campaign some a highly integrated approach, using owned, earned and various online and offline paid channels to deliver its new brand positioning. It aligned its communications with a social media component, allowing fans to have their name painted on a plane. This integrated approach proved to be a great tool for QANTAS in amplifying the reach with a small additional media cost. Whilst Virgin Australia primary pursued an above the line campaign, with little customer engagement. Both QANTAS and Virgin Australia offer a high involvement product, and subsequently use messages to develop transformational brand attitudes. This consideration of developing a emotional portrayal of the motivation aligns directly with suggested advertising tactics according R&P (Rossiter 1991). It is evident that these ads focus on an emotional connection to be made with the consumer, with the intention of the consumer developing an irrational fondness of the brand. The brand that sees itself most closely aligning and identifying itself with the individuals believes and worldview will likely dictate their choice in airline, especially for price insensitive brand switchers. But as discussed previously, QANTAS may have better chosen to choose a rational approach to its messaging in its attempts to recover from a few undesirable years of service.

Word Count References

1622 Words (Excluding Cover Page, Table of Contents, References) Virgin Australia The romance is back - Clemenger BBDO Sydney / October 2012, Viewed 10 September 2013, http://sydney.clemengerbbdo.com.au/#!&pageid=0&subsection=0&itemid=20 Brand Finance Australian Top 30, The report on Australias most valuable brands, May 2012. Brand-Finance. Viewed 10 September 2013, <http://brandfinance.com/images/upload/brandfinance_australia_top_30_final_ single_page.pdf> QANTAS 2013, QANTAS 2012/13 FULL YEAR FINANCIAL RESULTS, media release, SYDNEY, 29 August 2013, viewed 10 September 2013, < http://www.qantas.com.au/infodetail/about/investors/mediaReleaseResults13. pdf>. A better advertising planning grid. Rossiter, John R.; Percy, Larry; Donovan, Robert J. Journal of Advertising Research, Vol 31(5), Oct-Nov 1991, 11-2