KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines has consolidated its global
advertising account with Leo Burnett and media agency Starcom after
completing a review, which included Bates, Naga DDB, Ogilvy & Mather,
Grey Worldwide and TBWA-ISC.
Burnett and Starcom were the incumbent agencies in Malaysia, but
overseas work was handled by a myriad of agencies.
The airline moved to consolidate its business to achieve consistency in
branding and to save costs.
"A lot of the creative work coming out from overseas was off strategy.
They want to have a consistent positioning for global branding," said
Charles Cadell, managing director of Burnett Malaysia.
The new work aims to move away from the tactical initiatives employed in
the past - mostly ads announcing new routes - and to build some brand
cachet, while still generating an immediate sales increase.
Cadell attributed the win to Burnett investing in research to discover
what routes Malaysia Airlines should focus on to maximise its return on
investment.
In some instances, Burnett staff went on flights to discover first-hand
what the passenger numbers were and the split between economy, business
and first class traffic.
Malaysia Airlines desperately needs a boost in passenger numbers because
it has been losing money since 1997. The sharp downturn in travel
post-September 11 has also hit the airline hard.
Last year, the airline lost RM1.33 billion (US$350 million)
compared with RM259 million in 1999, contributing to the company's debt
of RM9.4 billion.
Other problems include its failure to join Star Alliance or One World,
the two global loyalty programmes airlines rely upon to attract business
travellers.
The carrier also needs to balance the bottomline demands of becoming
more competitive, while working in the national interest, which includes
operating unprofitable routes - such as some flights to South America -
because the Malaysian Government feels its helps with foreign
relations.
At the same time, the airline is subsidising flights to east Malaysia
because the Government feels it helps with national integration.
Burnett's account win includes the passenger airline, mass cargo
business, frequent flyer programme, which is called Enrich, airport
ticket sales business Golden Boutique, holiday business Golden Holidays
and the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
The win excludes online advertising, web development and direct
marketing work.
Burnett is employing staff to handle the extra work and has promoted
Masila Mohd Ariff from group brand director to international account
director on Malaysia Airlines.
Some Burnett offices around the world will continue to work for Delta
Airlines as there is no conflict because the two airlines compete on
different routes, according to Cadell.
