For my first Marketing Blog post, I will take a look at WestJet’s marketing strategy. As a frequent flier, I deal with air companies quite often, so analysing an air company is quite natural.
The average consumer can immediately notice that WestJet spends a considerably larger amount of money in advertisement when compared to their major competitor, Air Canada, at least in the Vancouver region. For example, West Jet ads can be seen quite often around skytrain stations and the trains themselves. This already gives them an edge over Air Canada, since West Jet would be the first aviation company that consumers that see their ads everyday would remember, when booking their flights. This is very beneficial to them, naturally.
The ads themselves are of unusual nature, when it comes to air travel companies. They feature a multitude of plane crew members holding up signs. This gives the company a nice, friendly, front, since customers can more easily feel empathy towards crew members than planes. This adds a competitive advantage towards the company, because customers will think of West Jet as nice and friendly, while they would think of Air Canada as a cold, disconnected company. Considering that the air fare price is very similar among those two companies, West Jet would naturally gain the edge when a customer is booking their flights.
It is important to notice however, that West Jet’s marketing campaign is targeted towards “regular” customers, not businessmen. West Jet is currently lagging behind Air Canada when it comes to business travel, and that is because Air Canada has a reputation among businessmen. But WJ decided to not compensate for their weakness, but to focus on their strength – budget traveling. This is sound decision making, that has the company’s SWOT in mind. West Jet would have to spend a lot more money to be able to tackle AC in their own niche.
Therefore, I can conclude that West Jet’s advertisement scheme is very well founded, and one that should be followed as an example, since it is simple, clean, effective, and plays on the company’s strengths, rather than weaknesses.
Disclaimer: I have no brand loyalty towards them, I fly either via WJ or AC, I don’t really care as long as the price is cheaper. =)
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