Time for a memory check. Which was the last domestic airlines' TV commercial that you saw? The 150-second long Air Deccan ad? That's what a thoroughly unscientific straw poll confirms as the best recalled. But which else?
It's peculiar. The aviation sector is going helter skelter. Out-of-home (OOH) signposts and print ad-spreads abound. But how come so little of the advertising is on television?
"IndiGo is not currently advertising on TV," says Bruce Ashby, CEO, IndiGo, "However, this is because we only have a few routes at this time, and we see TV as a better medium for reaching a national audience. As we grow over the next year, we will be reviewing TV, and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if we moved into that medium."
IndiGo seems to have a valid point. But what about Spicejet, Kingfisher, Air Deccan and Jet Airways? After all, they have been around for quite some time.
"It is not about neglecting TV or anything," says John Kuruvilla, chief revenue officer, Deccan Aviation, "but we feel that when there is a need for a TV campaign, we will certainly go ahead with it." In the interim, he adds, print is better suited to the sort of messages that need to be conveyed.
Sanjay Kumar, vice-president, sales and planning, SpiceJet, agrees with Kuruvilla. "With TV, you have to come up with a campaign which communicates on a national level," he says,