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Air India reviews its creative agencies

Air India also intends to get a separate media agency on board to handle the media duties for the brand

National carrier Air India is in the early stages of reviewing its creative duties. It also intends to have a separate media agency to handle its media duties. Earlier, the media arms of the existing agencies were handling the media duties. The airline had ad spends of about Rs 30 crore last year.

Sanjay Sharma, the official spokesperson from Air India, confirms the development. He says that at the time of the merger between Indian Airlines and Air India, their creative agencies such as RK Swamy BBDO, Mudra, Inter Publicity, Everest Brand Solutions and Rediffusion DYR started working together on the resultant entity, Air India. Air India is a part of the National Aviation Company of India – a company created in 2007 to facilitate Air India’s merger with Indian Airlines.

Air India reviews its creative agencies
Sharma adds that a fresh pitch will probably be called for, inviting all the existing agencies as well. Keeping in line with Air India’s tradition, the brand may continue to have a multiple agency format for its creative duties.

The Maharaja, Air India’s mascot, first made its appearance in 1946. Bobby Kooka, Air India's commercial director and Umesh Rao, an artist with J Walter Thompson (now JWT), together created the Maharajah.

The new logo of Air India is a red coloured flying swan with the ‘Konark Chakra’ in orange inside it. The flying swan had been morphed from Air India's characteristic logo, the Centaur, whereas the Konark Chakra is a reminiscent of Indian’s logo.

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