Kingfisher, Jet Airways in advertising war of words

The skirmish in the skies is now turning into a war of words. Kingfisher and Jet Airways are now fighting each other on the streets, in an advertising battle, reports CNBC-TV18. 

When Jet Airways embarked on a Rs 10 crore campaign to announce its change, it did not expect to change its campaign itself. But that is what Kingfisher Airlines forced it to do with a quick response.

Swapan Seth, CEO, Equus Red Cell, said, “At the kernel of the Kingfisher brand is our ability to innovate -- we have a certain spunkiness in terms of the brand persona and this is just a quick capitalisation of a marketing opportunity.”

Analysts said that Kingfisher is adopting the tongue-in-cheek method to narrow the gap in market share. Jet leads with a 31% share while Kingfisher has 10.5%. Jet Airways, which spends up to Rs 50 crore a year on marketing, has increased its budget after it bought and rebranded Sahara into JetLite. But its ad agency M&C Saatchi preferred to ignore the issue of competition.

Kamal Oberoi, Chaiman and CEO, M&C Saatchi, said, "This campaign is to communicate and celebrate the changes which are taking place, across the product, from delivery, uniform, to services. In the last 14 years, Jet Airways has revolutionised air travel and it has now embarked on a plan to be in the top five airlines. This campaign reflects Jet Airways as India's finest international airline.”

It took Kingfisher two days to respond to Jet's first tagline and the war of words rages on. This is the second potshot Kingfisher has taken after Jet changed its hoardings to a generic route announcement.