Marketing Communication Mix - a Focus on the Emirates Airlines - Case Study Example

Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Company history 2 Advertising by the company – use of slogans 3 Uniqueness of the city 4 Staff appearance 4 Publicity - sponsorships 5 Internet marketing 6 Social media marketing 6 Direct marketing 7 Personal selling campaign 8 Sales promotion 9 In summary 10 Conclusion 12 References 13 MARKETING COMMUNICATION MIX A FOCUS ON THE EMIRATES AIRLINES Introduction Company history The emirates airline is an airline company. It is a subsidiary of the emirates group. Its key area of focus is air travel. The ownership of the company is held by the government of the United Arab Emirates. The company has its headquarters located in the world renowned city of Dubai. The company was founded back in the year 1985. During the dame year of its launching, it commenced its operations. This was in the month of October the 25th. Over the years it has been in operation, it has achieved much in the development process. This has through the putting in place of successful advertisement campaigns that are all aimed at the passing of information about the company to the outside world. A good indicator of this is the increase in the number of flights and the destinations that the planes of the company visit each day. Currently, the company has a fleet of 221 planes which are all functional and in full service. The company also has achieved to have 142 destinations in the world for its planes. This achievement has made it a global force to reckon with in the airline industry. The airlines also has achieved to make a record high 3400 flights per week in its destinations (Halpern and Graham, 2013). It has also made its presence felt in over 78 countries across the world. This has made it make great returns from its activities globally. Its recognition can also not be termed as in the Middle East alone but rather in the whole of the continent. The company has also witnessed an influx in the number of customers that are putting to use its services. The increase is consistent and it denotes a continued growth and development. As by the year ended on 31st March 2014, the company had transported close to a total of 45 million passengers in its airline. This was a massive increase from the figures that had been recorded in the previous year. This is because the number as by the end of March 2013, read at close to 39 million. All this are the fruits of putting in place of successful marketing mix strategies. The profits therefore that were made were also massive. Currently, the airline is the largest international carrier in the world. It is also the seventh largest airline in the world in terms of the revenue that it makes from its operations. Advertising by the company – use of slogans The main reason that can be attributed to the continued growth and development of the company is the putting in place of a successful marketing campaign. The company has put into full use promotional mix strategies. They are all aimed at seeing to it that the company achieves the most in terms of revenues. The strategies that have been put into full use by he company include advertising, personal selling, direct marketing, sales promotion and publicity. Through this, the company is well able to sell itself to the world at large. The ever soaring number of employees and the customers are just but a few indicators of this. By the end of the year 2011, the company had a little fewer than 39000 employees. These were the employees who were involved in the daily activities of the company. They included flight attendants, pilots, engineers, flight deck crew, tour operators and cabin crew among many others. The company has put to full use many advertising and marketing strategies aiming at increased returns from the activities that they undertake. It is through successful marketing techniques that a company is able to reach customers from all the corners of the world. The company began with its slogans. They were indicators of the mission and goals of the company in the globalization process (Moesgaard and Poulfelt, 2014). In the year 2008, he company has put inplace a slogan that stated that, Fly Emirates. To Over Six Continents. The slogan was intended to show possible customers from all the corners of the world indicated as the six continents of its presence in every one of them. Through this slogan, people who were not aware of the presence of the airlines in their continent such as in Africa became aware. This was a key advertising tool for the company. Later on more recently in the year 2012, the slogan of the company stated that, Fly Emirates. Meet Dubai. This was a campaign that was aimed at selling the destination Dubai to the people of the world. Through coming to Dubai, people would have their chance to feel the presence of the company. They would also have a taste of the services that are rendered by the company. Dubai, being headquarter of the company, has much that it brings to the company. It is through the city that the company has been able to climb the heights of success. Through bringing people to the city, it will be able to even get more customers and more profitability. Uniqueness of the city The company has bore witness to the impact of the advertising of the city, Dubai. With the city becoming a world class city and a preferred tourist destination, the company has been on the fore front in reaping the benefits that accrue from this. The company has its operations and other controls located at the Dubai International Airport. The increased number of visitors to the city will result to the continued growth and development of the company. Staff appearance Another marketing strategy that the company has employed is through the uniqueness of the staff. The company has put in place unique attire for the staff. They have unique uniforms that they clad on during the undertaking of their respective activities. The uniqueness of their attire shows the uniqueness of the company from the competitors in the airlines field. It also denotes the diversification process thatis being employed by the company. Publicity - sponsorships A good advertising tool that has been employed by the company is the sponsorship deals. They have facilitated the publicity of the company. It has risen over theranks to be the official sponsor of various events. It is through this that it has continued to make its global presence felt by all. One of the places that it has had its impact felt is in sports. A closer view is on football. The English Premier League giants Arsenal have had their stadium sponsored by the company. Through this, the have acquired the naming rights of the stadium. It is now known as the Emirates Stadium. Through associating with the club, it has gained fondness with the followers of the club. It has as such become the fan favorite airlines company for the Arsenal Football Club fans. This has made it make much returns arising from this. The company also boasts as being the official kit sponsor of various team jerseys. Good examples are top European teams. They include Real Madrid, whichis a Spanish football giant. Another club that has its kits sponsored by the company is Paris Saint Germaine fondly known as PSG. It is a French football giant. Arsenal Football club also have their kits sponsored by the company. This are just but few of the clubs that are sponsored by the company. Though this, the company has them all labeled, Fly Emirates. This has had an immediate impact of attracting the following of the airlines by the fans who feel it worth being associated with it the company hasseveral benefits that it has made from this. The returns are massive. The millions of fans who prefer the airlines are good indication of the niche that the company has created in the market. A niche is an opportunity and the opportunity that the company has made is a great one. Internet marketing The company has also employed internet marketing in its campaign. This is where it advertises its content in internet sites. This is in order to attract the customers who are in the internet. This is a campaign that is directed at the making of returns for the company through the use of electronic commerce means. The internet has over the recent past been one of the best tools that can be used in marketing (Simons, 2014). There are various approaches that are used in respect to this. One of them is the use of the website of the company. This is where people are able to get information about the company through the website. They can also book and cancel flights through it. They can also get to know flight schedule of the company through its website. Another approach to internet marketing is the use of the Search Engine Optimization technique. This is commonly known as SEO. It is where the company has information about it emerge from the common searches on the internet. It has the advantage of attractive massive results from the millions of searches that are carried our in the world every second. Social media marketing Another tool of internet marketing that the company has put to use is social media marketing. This is where the company has information about it displayed on social media sites. The company uses the social sites to gain traffic that is essential for its continued presence. The most common ones are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Google+. These platforms have the advantage of having very many people in them. A network such as Facebook has the advantage that the potential customers have the ability to get direct feedback for all the questions that they ask. It also enables the company to be up to date with the FAQs that exist, (Frequently asked questions). Through it, people can be able to get the information that they need about a company. Direct marketing The company has also put in place direct marketing techniques. These are techniques that are put in place in an effort to get direct contact with the customers. It has the advantage of getting immediate contact and feedback to the information that is passed to the respective customers. The company has put in place television ads on the major worldwide televisions. This is in order to get the attention of the highest number of people possible. Through this, the people are given a brief of the company history, its achievements and the future plans of the company. In this also, the company is able to show its unique traits that it possesses to the customers it has the benefit of getting immediate response and knowledge is passed directly and immediately to the customers. The millions of people who get this information about the company will be a fertile ground for the continued development of the company. The company has information about it printed around dailies of countries. Through this, they display important factors about the company. Fliers about the company are also present in major notice boards of countries. The company also has stands in major world shows and exhibitions. Through this also, it is able to tell the outside world all about it. A good benefit of the use of this strategy is that it allows for feedback (Namaki, 2008). This is due to the fact that the contacts of the company and other links to their website are also present. The numbers of customers that are attracted stand out as being a link to the continued success of the company. Through this, the returns are improved and the profitability of the company heightened. Direct marketing also involves the use of sending mails to the target customers. Through this, a message is sent indicating the services of the company to the customers. This has the benefit of having an accurate measurement of the response. This is because the number of people who reply to the messages that are sent to them can be said at an accurate percentage value. The company has had a successful direct marketing campaign. This is through the analysis of the feedback which they receive from the messages that they send. Personal selling campaign The company has also initiated a near successful personal selling campaign. The company has put in placepersonal sellers who go an extra mile to meet the customers at their respective places. They have the advantage of having direct personal contact with the customers. This has been more imminent in trade shows and exhibitions. The company sends several representatives of the company to these places. This has had direct advantage to the company. The first advantage is that it has enabled them to convey more information to the customers about the company (The emirates group, 2000). The questions that are thereby raised by the customers are addressed immediately. They are even given explanations about other services that are rendered by the company and which they did not have any knowledge about. Personal selling also has the benefit of convince. This is where the personal sellers are able to convince the customers to use the services of the company. It facilitates the creation of loyalty to the services of the company. The strategy also has more impact as compared to the other marketing strategies that are used by the company. This is due to the fact that it eliminates any delays that may be present before the questions that are asked by the customers can be answered. The sellers are also able to have a first hand experience of how the demand patterns of the customers are. Through this, the company will be able to align itself well to meet the demands. This is important because the satisfaction of the needs of the customers is the goal of any company. Through addressing their demands, the company will be meeting the respective needs of the customers. This is replicated with an increase in the number of revenues that are made by the company and the incomes thereof. Sales promotion The company has also put in place sales promotion as an effective tool of advertising. This is where it has put in place various offers and other techniques that are all aimed at increasing the traffic to the company. They also facilitate increased returns for the company. The company has put in place different coupons and offers that are redeemable to the customers of the airlines. Examples include reduced ticket prices. A good example of this is an offer which shows that you can save money with the advance purchase of business class fares. This is where the people who book early are given lower fares amounts as compared to those who book late. This has the benefit of increasing the number of bookings for the flights of the company. The low prices that are charged are also competitively low to an extent of reducing the competition that is posed by other airlines in the industry. The company has many benefits that it has derived from the use of sales promotion techniques. One of the benefits is that is has facilitated the creationof differentiation for the products of the company. The launching of new and even more favorable services by the company has made it possible for it to be different from its sales competitors. Through this, the company has been able to even have a better grip of the market as compared to before. Another benefit that has resulted from the use of sales promotion is that the company has been able to reap the benefits of cross sell opportunities. This is where a company derives more from the offering of many different services as compared to only one service. This is evident in the company is the very many services that it seeks to render to the customers from the different parts of the world. The use of sales promotion strategies has also created room fro the company to put to test opportunities that exist in the market. An example of this is the putting in place of a split trips mechanism (Winston and Vaccaro, 2013). This is where a company tries to split the long travels into two or three portions. In such, the customers are given a chance to rest at different locations. It also facilitates the opening up of new markets in the new places that the split occurs. The development of such will be fostered by the creation of new terminals and new destinations. New destinations come with new customers and even new experiences. The returns that come with the identification of new markers are massive and many to the company. The revenues that are made inrespect to this are increased and massive. The benefits being on both the company and the customer side makes it an effective strategy. In summary The benefits that the company has reaped from the success of the advertising techniques have been many and far reaching. The use of publicity has the benefit of passing knowledge about the company t the outside world. Through increasing the knowledge, the customer numbers are bound to increase to great heights. This has the long term effect of increasing the profits that are made by the company. The company has been through publicity acquired a world class status. It has gained popularity and acceptance from all corners of the world. This has translated to increased levels of sales and revenues for the company. It has also led to the creation of loyalty for the goods and services which it offers. Another strategy is the personal selling approach. It has the benefit of having direct contact with the customers of the services of the company. It also has the attribute of offering direct feedback and response to all the questions that might be raised by the customers. Through answering of questions, the doubts that are with the customers are eliminated. It also has the ability of creating conviction. This is where the personal; sellers are able to convince the customers to seek and use the services of the company. It also helps in the creation and development of lasting customer relationships. It has facilitated the increase in the flexibility and adjustments of the company to be in line with the market demands. This has the benefit of seeing to it that the company is able to offer exactly what the customers need and even better. Sales promotion on its part has helped in the reduction of the power of the competitors in the market. Through reduction of competitor power and penetration, the company is able to thrive in its undertakings. The profits and gains that are made in response to this will be increased and even more strengthened. Advertising is one of the most effective strategies in promotional mix. This is due to the fact that it has helped in the conveying of information about the company to the world at large. The unique traits of the company are told out to the customers both potential customer and the already existing customers (Winston and Vaccaro, 2013). It has also enabled the continued penetration of the company in areas that it has not previously ventured in. Internet marketing on its part has the advantage of seeing to it that the information about the company is passed to the millions of internet users across the world. The use of social sites has made it possible for the content about the company and other important links to be passed to the users. This has led to increased goodwill for the company in the market. Conclusion The company has many gains that it has made from the use of different promotional techniques. This has translated to increase in the levels of returns that they receive from their operations. They have also acquired global status as a result. As at the end of March 2014, the airlines recorded an increase of revenues made as compare to the previous years. These are some of the benefits that the company has reaped from the use of proper advertising tools. With time, the company believes that even more achievements will be made and even more successes in the airline field. The long term benefits of the promotional mix strategies are being reaped at the moment. One of the most important to the company is the creation of loyalty to its services and to its company. This is due to the fact that it believes that relationships built are a step into a brighter future. It hence seeks to even improve the relationships and see to it that all the customers get value. Relationships are also fostered by the use of the personal selling agents of the company. The top management believes in the success and the benefit of proper promotional techniques. They have made an extra effort in seeing to it that even better techniques are employed. They help in portraying information of the company to the outside world. The slogan of the company says it all. Fly Emirates. Hello Tomorrow. This shows its intent in having a better tomorrow not only for the company but also for the customers and for the world at large. References Halpern G&, Graham, 2013, Airport Marketing. 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