To reach his electorate as well as keep costs within the stipulated budget of Rs 25 lakh for election campaigning, Air Deccan founder G. R. Gopinath is resorting to viral marketing, SMS messages, and e-mail.
Gopinath, who is standing as an Independent candidate from Bangalore South constituency, India's IT capital, has also launched a dedicated website with provision for suggestions, advice and feedbacks.
"We are using viral marketing techniques to keep our costs within the sum allotted by the Election Commission," said Gopinath. Viral marketing is a low-cost marketing technique that uses pre-existing social networks to increase brand awareness. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet, or any form of video clips, images, or even text messages.
As per Gopinath, the email blasters were done with database received from volunteers instead of buying the database. The SMSs are being sent free by service providers who are his well-wishers. Even the social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are free sites.
Gopinath said he opted to contest these elections with the backing of Infosys Technologies' Nandan Nilekani and Mohandas Pai, Pradeep Kar of Microland; Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon and brand guru Harish Bijoor.
CXOtoday
Showing posts with label low-cost. Show all posts
Showing posts with label low-cost. Show all posts
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Air India announces fare cut up to 82pc
A day after Jet Airways reduced fares on domestic routes, state-owned operator Air India on Tuesday announced fare cut up to 82 percent in at least 20 sectors, mostly on metro routes, a senior airline official said.
"The new fare cut comes into effect today (Tuesday). We have cut fares on 20 sectors by up to 82 per cent. This will largely benefit passengers on metro routes," an airline spokesperson told reporters.
India's leading private air carrier Jet Airways Monday reduced fares on its domestic routes by up to 40 percent with immediate effect.
Another leading carrier, Kingfisher Airlines, Sunday announced fare cut from Jan 1. However, it has not announced the quantum of fare cut.
Low cost carriers are also expected to follow suit, said an industry official. The fare cuts comes in the wake of slackening demand in the post-peak season and continued decline in fuel prices.
Over the past four months, there has been a sharp decline in aviation fuel prices. While some air carriers earlier this month reduced the fuel surcharge on the ticket price by Rs 200 to Rs 400, they did not touch the base fare.
Oil companies have reduced aviation fuel prices seven times since September. The fuel is now sold at Rs 32,691.28 per kilolitre in Delhi after prices were slashed by Rs 4,208.37 in the first week of December.
Source: Airlines
"The new fare cut comes into effect today (Tuesday). We have cut fares on 20 sectors by up to 82 per cent. This will largely benefit passengers on metro routes," an airline spokesperson told reporters.
India's leading private air carrier Jet Airways Monday reduced fares on its domestic routes by up to 40 percent with immediate effect.
Another leading carrier, Kingfisher Airlines, Sunday announced fare cut from Jan 1. However, it has not announced the quantum of fare cut.
Low cost carriers are also expected to follow suit, said an industry official. The fare cuts comes in the wake of slackening demand in the post-peak season and continued decline in fuel prices.
Over the past four months, there has been a sharp decline in aviation fuel prices. While some air carriers earlier this month reduced the fuel surcharge on the ticket price by Rs 200 to Rs 400, they did not touch the base fare.
Oil companies have reduced aviation fuel prices seven times since September. The fuel is now sold at Rs 32,691.28 per kilolitre in Delhi after prices were slashed by Rs 4,208.37 in the first week of December.
Source: Airlines
Monday, December 29, 2008
Jet Airways, Kingfisher to cut air fares in January
Private air carriers Jet Airways and Kingfisher announced reduction in fares following steep fall in Aviation Turbine Fuel prices.
While Jet Airways said it was reducing air fare ranging 15-40 per cent from tomorrow, Kingfisher Airlines said it would effect fare cut across its network from January 1.
"Jet Airways is reducing basic fares ranging from 15-40 per cent across most of the domestic flights with effect from tomorrow," a Jet Airways spokesperson said.
The fare cut would be across all domestic sectors, the spokesperson said tonight.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel had repeatedly asked the airlines to pass on the benefit of sharp drop in ATF prices to passengers. Earlier in the day, Kingfisher Airlines said it would effect a fare cut across its network from January 1.
"Kingfisher Airlines will begin the New Year on an aggressive note by slashing fares on its network," Kingfisher Airlines Chairman, Vijaya Mallya, said in a statement here. He, however, did not specify the quantum by which fares would come down.
The current low prices of ATF allows Kingfisher to pursue an opportunity to significantly increase market share by offering the fine five-star flying experience at reduced fares, he said.
Earlier, Kingfisher had said that it would effect fare cut only after the government classifies ATF in the Declared Goods category. The airlines across the board are demanding the Government to classify ATF in the Declared Goods category.
Under the declared goods category, there will be a uniform 4 per cent sales tax on air fuel across the country. The proposal is now before the Parliament.
However, several state governments are likely to oppose the uniform taxation as it would cause revenue loss to them. Now, the sales tax varies from four per cent to 32 per cent, and accounts for over 35 per cent of airlines' operational cost.
Over the last four months, there has been a sharp decline in ATF prices. While some air carriers earlier this month reduced the fuel surcharge between Rs 200 and Rs 400, they did not touch the basic fare.
While Jet Airways said it was reducing air fare ranging 15-40 per cent from tomorrow, Kingfisher Airlines said it would effect fare cut across its network from January 1.
"Jet Airways is reducing basic fares ranging from 15-40 per cent across most of the domestic flights with effect from tomorrow," a Jet Airways spokesperson said.
The fare cut would be across all domestic sectors, the spokesperson said tonight.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel had repeatedly asked the airlines to pass on the benefit of sharp drop in ATF prices to passengers. Earlier in the day, Kingfisher Airlines said it would effect a fare cut across its network from January 1.
"Kingfisher Airlines will begin the New Year on an aggressive note by slashing fares on its network," Kingfisher Airlines Chairman, Vijaya Mallya, said in a statement here. He, however, did not specify the quantum by which fares would come down.
The current low prices of ATF allows Kingfisher to pursue an opportunity to significantly increase market share by offering the fine five-star flying experience at reduced fares, he said.
Earlier, Kingfisher had said that it would effect fare cut only after the government classifies ATF in the Declared Goods category. The airlines across the board are demanding the Government to classify ATF in the Declared Goods category.
Under the declared goods category, there will be a uniform 4 per cent sales tax on air fuel across the country. The proposal is now before the Parliament.
However, several state governments are likely to oppose the uniform taxation as it would cause revenue loss to them. Now, the sales tax varies from four per cent to 32 per cent, and accounts for over 35 per cent of airlines' operational cost.
Over the last four months, there has been a sharp decline in ATF prices. While some air carriers earlier this month reduced the fuel surcharge between Rs 200 and Rs 400, they did not touch the basic fare.
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