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la roche, 54 the valley rd, cnr jan smuts ave, westcliff, 2193 po box 2018, parklands, 2121 tel +27 11 486 1284 fax +27 11 486 1295 www.morrisjones.co.zaDirectors: Nina Morris, Angel Jones, Kurt Reed and Ben van der Ross Reg. no. 2000/027549/07

Case Study: kulula.com, Anyone can fly, 2001______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Objectives

In the year 2001, Br i t ish Ai rways wanted to enter a low cost a i r l ine into the South Afr ican market . Theproposed Comair L i te was to be the f i rs t no-f r i l ls , low fare a i r l ine which would of fer t ravelopportuni t ies to those previously unable to af ford the high pr ices of current a i r l ines.

Our object ive was to launch the f ighter brand and get people to choose Comair L i te by booking onl ine.

ChallengeThe odds were stacked against us; the market was dominated by a subsid ised, wel l known and t rustednat ional carr ier South Afr ican Ai rways; the associat ion wi th an establ ished ai r l ine was adisadvantage, and the South Afr ican market was not an ideal candidate for a low-cost a i r l ine.Insight

Prior to the launch most a i r l ines posi t ioned themselves as luxury or dream-l ike t ravel opt ions.Recl in ing chai rs serv iced by e legant and swi f t hostesses c lass ical ly f lew through the ai r on the way tostunning hol iday locat ions. Bel ls , whist les and a ser ious t rust-me at t i tude were standard wi th

consumers having to fork out large amounts of money to t ravel by a i r .

These factors led to a i r t ravel being highly inaccessib le for most due to perceived high costs,compl icated booking mechanics and the idea of a i r t ravel was only meant for the successful businessmarket or h igher income earners.

Solution

The overal l solut ion was to create brand af f in i ty rather than s imply running advert is ing andpromot ions to acqui re bums in seats. We needed a more hol is t ic approach to the brand and thebusines. From naming the brand to paint ing the plane, morr is jones appl ied an al lver t is ing approachrather than a t radi t ional advert is ing one.

The f i rs t chal lenge was to re-evaluate the name Comair L i te . The name lacked re levance,mainta ined the associat ion wi th Br i t ish Ai rways and communicated a watered-down vers ion of anexist ing brand name; which steered the brand to a cheap, corner cut t ing and, by impl icat ion, a lesssafe percept ion than bigger more t rusted ai r l ines.

So the search for a new name began

Kulula was a perfect choice as i ts l i tera l meaning easi ly in is iZulu conveys the brand essence. I tappealed to new markets, i t promised real d i f ference to ex is t ing ones, and best of a l l , met a l l thepract ical concerns. The name was also fo l lowed by .com which made i t easier for people to r ememberwhere to go to book.

Furthermore, and in l ine wi th the ins ight , a i r l ine advert is ing convent ions could not ref lect the brandessence of s imple value. This led us to a posi t ioning of Anyone can Fly and a ruth less ly s implecreat ive route emerged. I f anyone could f ly , then i t must mean that ordinary people could becomesuperheroes ( in adland at least) . The idea therefore, was to show as many types of ordinary South

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Afr icans as we could, dressed as the superheroes they could now become wi th kulu la.com. For once,the customer real ly was the hero.

Creat ing a new category of no-f r i l ls , low cost a i r l ines meant the brand could extend into less fami l iarareas; such as the cabin crews welcome and safety speeches. This re laxed out look on t ravelre inforced accessib i l i ty and value but kept the exper ience engaging and, most of a l l , fun.

Work

Close to half a

million tickets weresold in the first calendar

year of operation

Results

This launch campaign showed impressive sales f igures. Closeto hal f a mi l l ion t ickets were sold in the f i rs t calendar year of

operat ion. kulu la.com was prof i table f rom the day i t s tar tedf ly ing. 2000 reservat ions were made on the f i rs t day ofoperat ion.

High load factors a lso ensured prof i tabi l i ty wi th load factorscont inual ly ranging between 75% and 85% per month. Thisexceeded the industry average of 60% by between 15-25%.These load factors remained consistent ly above average whi lecapaci ty grew over three t imes greater.

Fol lowing th is in 2004, the agency was awarded a Si lver ApexAward in the launch category.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Copyr ight Morr is jones2011