Analyzing The Marketing Issue Faced By Singapore Airlines And Its Premium Economy Ticket

Task 1

Singapore Airline is positioned as a national carrier and is among the leading airline companies in the world (Limited, 2019). The objective of the report is to analyze the marketing issue faced by Singapore Airlines along with its product is premium economy ticket. Moreover, a detailed analysis will be carried out in carrying out a buyer behavior analysis along with developing a multi dimensional profile of the target market  along with evaluating the major influences on this decision making process. In addition, the report is also focused on employing a suitable communication strategy that will encompass media and message that can facilitate in addressing the information processing aspects and its impact in the company.

Singapore Airlines is positioned as among the most renowned national carrier within the nation. The company operates within an extensive network all through the world and the company is positioned as best Airline in Skytrax’s 2018 world airline awards in the current year. Traditionally, the airlines company seat classifications come within three major classes including first, business and economy class (Andrews & Shimp, 2017). In entering into fierce competition with Singapore Airlines, companies like Virgin Atlantic pioneered economy class in the year 2011 that opens up new markets targeting value driven passengers those wish to trade up. Following such trend, Singapore Airlines introduced its new economy seats and observed that it is the fastest growing seat class for business travelers resulting in steady growth increase over years (Batra & Keller, 2016). Despite such increase, the airline company has observed to be a challenge in order to sell their premium economy class seats on their longest flights such as from Singapore to New York.

The target audience profiling is conducted for the Singapore Airlines Economy tickets in order to develop suitable communication strategy for them (Bigne, Andreu, Hernandez & Ruiz, 2018).

• Demographics:The target consumers are business travelers that include the managers and the senior managers. This target market is above the age group of 25 years and in the year 2017 the overall outbound by these consumers by year is recorded to be 8,100,687 (Camilleri, 2018).
• Geographic:At the centre of CBD is observed to be the Raffles Place, the internationally renowned financial hub of Singapore in which the most prestigious office developments are observed to reside. Served by the Raffles Place MRT station, the average count of daily passenger is observed to be around 89,000 people (Coursaris, van Osch & Balogh, 2016).
• Psychographics: Among the target consumers of Singapore Airlines, 69% is observed o have freedom to choose their choice of airlines. In addition, 41% of the target consumers are observed to fly low-cost carriers for the business purpose (Andrew, 2018).
• Behavioral: Among the target consumers of Singapore Airlines, 87% of passengers made online travel bookings, 60% of the business trips encompass leisure options and 60% are observed to be open to post trip recommendations for the reason that they are likely to return to the same destination (Chhabra, 2015).
• Archetypes: Through observing the target consumers of Singapore Airlines, it is gathered that 17% are saver seekers, 27% are miles maximize, 35% are stereotypical suits and 21% are service seekers.

Based on the model indicated below, the consumers buying prices focused on Singapore Airlines are indicated under:

• Problem Recognition- The consumers are aware of competitors like Scoot and Budget Airlines and the external communication from company through advertisement on social media. The group influences includes company policy, business partners and world perceive (Gannage & Burton, 2016).
• Information Search- This includes internal memory based on the brand familiarity along with the airline brands such as Silk Air and Scoot. They are also certain website brands such as booking.com and sky scanner. The external sources from which consumers can attain information from external sources such as Travel Agents.
• Evaluation of Alternatives: The objectives criteria considers priorities for the business travelers in Asia that considers convenient flight times, direct flights, value for money, comfortable seats, valued as consumer along with offering award winning services (He & Balmer, 2017). The subjective criteria set by consumers on considering alternatives selection includes Singapore branding and publicity, maintaining service excellence and attaining several recognition awards.

	Value for Money Save Time On Research and Writing Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper. Get My Paper	Convenient Flight Timings	Comfort	Baggage Allowance
Economy		5 times daily	In-flight entertainment- 28 cm
Premium Economy	$ 2400	5 times daily	In-flight entertainment- 34 cm	35 kg
Business	$ 4919	5 times daily	In-flight entertainment- 46 cm	40 kg

Divestment- This is not applicable for the reason that Singapore Airlines e-ticket purchase along with used or postponed to the next trip with considered penalty of USD 50= SGD 69.

• Post Purchase- This is focused on triggering consumer satisfaction through satisfying the basic needs, security, safety, food and water. In case the consumers are not satisfied with services of Singapore Airlines that triggers dissatisfaction in the form of no response of emails and in-flight service (Kim & Kim, 2018).
• Purchase Decision- The target consumers look for convenience such as miles membership, reputation such as consumer service easy access, knowledge with easy access, size along with variety having code shares with 39 Airlines along with focused on discount and frequent promotion from Airlines (Lovelock & Patterson, 2015).
• Post Purchase-The target consumers consider whether Singapore Airlines allow easy consumer feedback processes along with satisfactory service recovery processes in order to decrease poor press.

The three major influences on the decision making process of Target Consumers of Singapore Airlines are explained under:

• Personality- Social comparison is conducted by business class passengers as they might compare the air ticket price of distinct airlines and might assume that the Premium Economy Class is not of premium standard due to its price difference and category categorization (Kefallonitis, 2015). The consumers also consider conformity as it desires to be associated with business travelers along with budget and economy travelers.
• Social Class- Business and first class are deemed to be premium as they are highly expensive usually just the high income travelers might pay for the same. Economy class along with premium economy is affordable for most consumers. For this reason, the perception of the social class difference (Killian & McManus, 2015).
• Reference Group- As the business travelers are generally considered to be maintaining a class above economy and this might consider and search for air tickets within that classification. Other business travelers of the identical level and desire to be purchasing and associative the same type of ticket classification.

The major issue that is observed to be associated with information processing is centered on changing the perception of business travelers those considers Premium Economy class is not just affordable (Jareankieatbovor & Cohen, 2016). The airlines also face issues related with maintain good service, comfort and food in its economy class seats just like the business class of the airline company.

Singapore Airlines is dealing with issues related with maintaining good service, comfort and food in its economy class seats in its economy class tickets just like the business class of the airline company. Focused on such issue the company is intended to develop a creative marketing campaign that encompass social media outlets (Mayer, Ryley & Gillingwater, 2015). In its communication mix strategy, the airlines company is focuses on allowing partnership and co-branding within their advertisements that can leverage off one another’s strong presence of brand. Communication goals and positioning strategy of Singapore Airlines will be centered on allowing incentives or special corporate pricing in facilitating travel agents to pick the same as their favorite choices (O’Connell & Williams, 2016). Considering the buying behavior of the target market the company is focused on implementing Fills MCPF (Marketing Communications Planning Framework) in its communication mix strategy that will address traveler’s needs along with displaying the same within their advertisements. The airlines must also focus its communication strategy in allowing seamless access in managing booking page for the process by means of travel agencies or third party websites for ensuring simple future repurchase decisions (Seo & Park, 2018). In order to promote its economy class tickets successfully, Singapore Airlines will facilitate simple consumer feedback processes along with satisfactory processes of service recovery.

Task 2

The communication goals of Singapore Airlines in increasing the sales of economy class tickets among its travelers are indicated below:

• Awareness: To increase the product awareness that the economy class tickets can be at affordable price tags that can facilitate 45% viewership from the market size of 1.14mil business travelers within the six months of the communication mix campaign launch (Shaw, 2016).
• To attain increased sales target: The objective is to allow 1% purchase rate of the overall market size and the anticipated sales revenue after launch of the six months marketing campaign $ 20155392.

In addition, the specified marketing objectives is evaluated through analyzing sizeable, definable, relevant and reachable aspects of such objectives that can ensure increased effectiveness of such marketing communications campaign (Wang, Kao & Ngamsiriudom, 2017). These aspects aligned with the defined marketing communications objectives are explained under:

• Sizeable: The average cost of premium economic class tickets is deemed to be $ 1728 * 1166400 = $ 2015539200. The market value for the same is observed to be $ 2015539200.
• Definable: The Singapore market size is observed to include around 1166400 business travelers (Weinstein, 2016)
• Relevant: There is an increasing trend for the value seeking business travelers those seek the similar comfort along with perks of the business class ticket holders devoid of any high amount of price tag.
• Reachable: The objective of Singapore Airlines is to target the business travelers largely within the managerial positions working majorly within the CBD region by means of billboards in the Raffles city along with Tangoing Pagar MRT station, Mariana East, Downtown Core, Outram, River Valley and the Tampines Developing area (Mayer, Ryley & Gillingwater, 2015).

The positioning strategy that will be developed by Singapore Airlines in promoting its economy class tickets is “Business travels can be luxurious yet affordable too”. The purpose of this positioning strategy is to make the business travelers aware that the premium economy seats can be luxurious along with being affordable (Mayer, Ryley & Gillingwater, 2015). Selling affordable luxury is the major communication strategy that is decided by the Singapore Airlines in communicating travelers about the value of the economy class seats.

The marketing mix strategy of the Singapore Airlines is focused on implementing several marketing communication tools along with construction of media along with creative strategy. Offline advertising strategy will be used by the company in developing offline advertising strategy and then will consider implementing online communication tools after five years (Sengur & Sengur, 2017). The creative communication mix strategy of the airline is emphasized on the quality of the service consumers with 24/7 social media involvement to offer rapid responses to feedback from travelers in order to ensure real time service recovery through implementation of social media channels. The marketing communication tools used by Singapore Airlines are indicated below:

• Sales Promotion- The economy class tickets will be promoted through promoting 110% miles even when booking through corporate travel agents for 1 year duration. 2% cash rebate will also be offered with using credit cards of American Express and Citibank (Wirtz & Heracleous, 2016).
• Advertising- Advertising strategy of Singapore Airlines will be conducted through billboards within regions of Raffles Place MRT, Telok Ayer MRT, Tangong Pagar MRT. Certain online ads on promoting the economy class tickets will also be considered that will be by means of Facebook, Instagram, EDM, YouTube, third party travel agent websites along with company website.
• Direct Marketing- The airline will promote direct dealings along with staying in contact with the frequent flyers through emailing and messaging offers along with incentives at regular intervals (Wirtz & Heracleous, 2016). Moreover, the airline will also promote its economy class tickets through newspapers, television along with other print media such as banners and brochures.
• Public Relations- This marketing communication strategy of Singapore Airlines will consider developing online credibility by means of social media along with digital public relations. Using YouTube and Facebook in assisting within facilitation along with engagement with suitable online bloggers and influencers to develop opportunities of brand exposure.

The media along with creative strategies those are developed for the Singapore Airlines in promoting its premium economy class tickets among the travelers are explained below:

• Theme of Campaign: Affordable Premium Economy Class Luxury
• Communication Message: Business travels can be affordable along with luxurious even in premium economy seats
• Promotion Strategy: To develop awareness to the new and present business travelers that the premium economy seats are affordable and highly luxurious
• Issues: The major issue that is observed to be associated with information processing is centered on changing the perception of business travelers those considers Premium Economy class is not just affordable.
• Creative Marketing Communication Strategy:Singapore Airlines is always positioned in luxury travelling. The creative marketing campaign of the airlines will be to promote its premium economy class tickets as “A Great Way to Fly” that is aligned with its offerings and travelers experience (Mayer, Ryley & Gillingwater, 2015). To offer effective marketing communication message, the travelers will be made aware of using their latest seat class. This message is also intended to capture new and existing economy seats passengers in order to upgrade their classes (Jareankieatbovor & Cohen, 2016). The marketing communication message for its economy class tickets will be “purchasing flight tickets for business meetings is simple, premium and affordable that can offer passengers with great chance to fly. The marketing commutations creative strategy is focused on promoting affordable premium luxury.
• Marketing Communications Campaign Demonstration:Rational demonstration approach will be used in marketing communications strategy of Singapore Airlines that will indicate purchasing flight tickets are simple, affordable and convenient (Jareankieatbovor & Cohen, 2016). The target consumers are business travelers those are always busy and travelling places, for this reason gathering their attention is easy. The marketing message will use words and pictures that will e straightforward, simple and will be passed along in seconds through use of suitable communication tools. The pictorial advertisements will promote the comfort ability and better space of the premium economy class in Singapore Airlines (Jareankieatbovor & Cohen, 2016). The major attraction aspects of the marketing communications message will include affordable, premium flight tickets; business meeting convenience will grab increased attention of target audience. 

The proposed budget for successful implementation of marketing communications strategy by Singapore Airlines is indicated below along with the proposed cost of implemented marketing communication tools (Pellicelli, 2017).

Marketing Budget
Budget Categories	Total Budget	Year To Date Spend	Budget Remaining	% Remaining	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Sales Promotion	$85,000	$61,000	$24,000	28%	$15,000	$15,000	$15,000	$15,000
Public Relations	$35,500	$20,820	$14,680	41%	$500	$20,000		$100	$50	$20
Advertising (print)	$12,000	$1,140	$10,860	91%	$300		$600	$200
Advertising (online)	$60,000	$55,000	$5,000	8%	$5,000	$5,000	$5,000	$5,000	$5,000	$5,000
Content Production	$36,000	$34,000	$2,000	6%	$500	$30,000		$500		$1,500
Events & Sponsorships	$180,000	$61,500	$118,500	66%	$20,000	$40,000
Creative Agency Fees	$240,000	$240,000	$0	0%	$20,000	$20,000	$20,000	$20,000	$20,000	$20,000
Direct Marketing	$36,000	$14,300	$21,700	60%	$12,000		$2,000		$300
Billboards	$15,000	$3,260	$11,740	78%	$50	$340	$2,000	$400	$200	$50
Memberships & Associations	$25,000	$26,000	-$1,000	-4%	$0	$10,000	$5,000	$1,000
Totals	$724,500	$517,020	$207,480	29%	$73,350	$140,340	$49,600	$42,200	$25,550	$26,570
	Cumulative Spend	$73,350	$213,690	$263,290	$305,490	$331,040	$357,610

The communication mix campaign that will be implemented for increasing the sales of Singapore Airlines economy class tickets among its target travelers will be evaluated through implementation of certain metrics that can analyze the effectiveness of the program (Jareankieatbovor & Cohen, 2016). Based on the analysis of communication campaign effectiveness, certain decisions can be taken regarding use of different marketing communication tools in order to attain the marketing objectives effectively.

• Increase in visitors is the best indicator of marketing communication strategy effectiveness. Successful implementation of this strategy will be measured through observing increase in visitors’ traffic and increased frequency of website visit over a specified timeframe.
• Increase in the number of page views by the target audience over a specified timeframe after implementation of Facebook or any other social media based communication strategy implementation (Jareankieatbovor & Cohen, 2016).
• Increase in the conversion rates within a specified timeframe will indicate the effectiveness of the marketing communications campaign implementation. This will be measured through observing the number of target audiences taking positive actions through booking the premium economy class tickets over a decided timeframe (Jareankieatbovor & Cohen, 2016).

Conclusion

The objective of the report was to analyze the marketing issue faced by Singapore Airlines along with its product is premium economy ticket. It was gathered from the paper that the major issue that is observed to be associated with information processing is centered on changing the perception of business travelers those consider Premium Economy class is not just affordable. It is also observed that the specified marketing objectives is evaluated through analyzing sizeable, definable, relevant and reachable aspects of such objectives that can ensure increased effectiveness of such marketing communications campaign. To grab increased consumer attention the airline will promote direct dealings along with staying in contact with the frequent flyers through emailing and messaging offers along with incentives at regular intervals. This marketing communication strategy of Singapore Airlines will consider developing online credibility by means of social media along with digital public relations.  

Task 3

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