Courtesy: DNA
 
New Delhi, Apr 25: The cola war (between Pepsi and Coke) may have somewhat cooled off but a similar war is now being fought in the sky.

This summer, it is the full-service airline operators — Jet Airways and Kingfisher Air — which are taking pot shots at each other with innovative commercials as they try to outdo each other in a bid to woo flyers. And they are fighting the duel on Mumbai's streets (literally).

Thrilled about its new look, on April 11, Jet had put up hoardings screaming "We've Changed" at seven locations in Mumbai.

Rival Kingfisher could not resist the temptation to come out with a tongue-in-cheek response to such a proclamation. Within days (April 13), Vijay Mallya- promoted airline pasted its reaction on a hoarding right above the Jet ad at Cadbury Junction, which is around two kilometres from Jet chairman Naresh Goyal's residence.

Kingfisher's hoarding jeered "We Made Them Change!!"

Stung by the sarcasm in Kingfisher's campaign, by April 15, Jet pulled down its "We've changed" campaign, which industry sources say was worth Rs 90 lac, and replaced it with "Take Off To New York Daily".

Now, the creative minds at Kingfisher are thinking of a line to counter this, too.

What is guiding Kingfisher's tongue-in-cheek reaction?

Swapan Seth of Equus Advertising, the agency responsible for the campaign, points out that it is only a manifestation of the Mallya's airline brand.

"If you look at the Kingfisher's brand, it is young, smart, nimble-footed, vibrant and aggressive. So this kind of light and refreshing slogan goes well with it," says Seth.

Even though he could not tell exactly what sparks off such cola kind of a war, he reasons that such tussle between two dynamic brands in a dynamic market was nothing to be surprised about. Beyond Seth's advertising philosophy, analysts say there are also some hard market facts which have pushed the two airlines to engage in a duel. The two are wrestling to expand their share in the full-service space.

Over last one and a half years, Kingfisher has challenged the Jet Airways brand (leading airline in India in terms of market share) by offering better product and services to corporate travellers.

"Erosion in market share has forced Jet to react to every move of Kingfisher. This has put Kingfisher also on the defensive mode," says an analyst.

In the past three months, Jet's market has dropped from 25.50% in January to 22.90% in March while Kingfisher's share in the pie has gone up from 10.04% to 10.60 in the same period.