Lufthansa: Striking a high note

In an industry where differentiation hinges on functional benefits, Lufthansa has woven an integrated media campaign to connect with women on an emotional level

Internationally, there have been two ways in which airlines have tried to speak to their consumers and command top of mind recall. In the first category are airlines that are simply functional in their approach - they tout benefits such as excellent in-flight service and entertainment, on-time departure and arrival, and comfortable seating or interiors. At the other end of the spectrum are airlines that are unabashedly functional - they have made things like "bags fly free" and "hot and free meals" the focal point of their million dollar advertising spending

Has the airline business really become so commoditised that paying for a hot meal makes all the difference?

Some analysts say it has, because finally, the flyer wants to just fly from point A to point B in as hassle-free a manner as possible. So their primary considerations include price, on-time arrival, airports served and non-stop flights. And in any case, they won't be fooled if an airline tried to sell itself on an emotional pitch, conditioned as they are by packed planes, fragmented pricing, disinterested flight attendants and unscheduled delays.

While flying has become commoditised in many ways, not many carriers are working hard to overcome the challenges. In such a scenario, what options does an airline have if, one, it isn't a home-grown carrier, and two, it wants to go beyond differentiating itself based on baggage fees (or the lack thereof) and legroom? One great option that presented itself to Lufthansa was to connect with the myriad Indian flyers on that one thing that connects people across the country - food.

So food is the pivot of its latest Cook and Fly contest, unveiled under Lufthansa's "More Indian than you think" philosophy. The contest targets Indian women and comes with "the insight that cooking is a very strong identity factor for Indian women and yet no airline in India had celebrated this aspect". This "gap" gave Lufthansa an opportunity to establish a strong idea that brought alive its positioning of "Nonstop you" while celebrating womanhood at the same time.

"It is all about a deeper engagement with the Indian target audience and building a relationship with them on a platform which is an integral part of their lives - food," explains Sangeeta Sharma, manager, marketing and communications, Lufthansa Passenger Airlines. "Our brand philosophy of 'Nonstop you' integrates well with the contest as the winning recipe of the contest gets a chance to feature on our in-flight menu. This will also reflect a more 'Indianised' version of Lufthansa - a brand that cares about its target audience."

The idea also made strong business sense. A look at flyer statistics revealed to the airline that there was a lack of relationship-oriented engagement between the brand and its female flyers. Only 9.6 per cent of the Lufthansa Facebook fan-base comprised of females. Another factor that gave weight to this idea was the emergence of women as a strong flyer segment, with an almost 900 per cent segment growth expected by 2030. Therefore, it made perfect sense to launch a campaign targeted at the Indian woman.

So what were the options before the company to effectively connect with Indian women? One of the ways to engage with the women target audience was through traditional advertising and the other route was to engage them with a property or an idea which is of direct interest to them, which is strategic and long term. With this brief the airline challenged its advertising agency (MRM McCann) to come up with a strategy that combined both objectives - business as well emotional engagement - and yet was unique at its core.

Keeping in mind the brief, a property was created on Facebook called 'Lufthansa Star Chef Challenge'. The Lufthansa Star Chef Challenge is a talent hunt on the Lufthansa India Facebook page to find the best original Indian recipes. "We not only achieved the objective of reaching out to the target audience but also brought the 'Nonstop you' philosophy to life by including the winner recipe to the in-flight menu," says Sharma. "The fact that this property was anchored on a social media platform meant that a larger number of women could participate, from any part of the country. Traditional mediums still do not have that kind of outreach."

The Lufthansa Cook and Fly contest is the second season of Lufthansa's unique culinary talent hunt. The airline first announced the Lufthansa Star Chef Contest in 2013, in partnership with The Leela, which received over a thousand recipe entries. This year too, the contest, the entries for which closed on July 31, has achieved great traction. It has received some interesting recipes from different parts of India, including many Tier-II and Tier-III cities, says the company.