Since Tony Fernandes acquired Air Asia back in 2001, the airline has seen a tremendous upsurge. It is now worth more than a billion dollars in revenue terms. It is considered now, the world’s best low-cost airline. One of the key learnings from Fernandes’s leadership style, is to not panic during any crisis. Instead, one must advertise more heavily then, as Air Asia did during the SARS outbreak, or during the currency crisis. This is because, the costs also reduced at those times, due to bleak advertising revenues. During such crises, while others were lowering their budgets, Air Asia substantially increased it. Sponsoring of British football giant Manchester United boosted the perceptions, placing the brand at par with the likes of Vodafone and Budweiser, that have done likewise. The logo colour was also changed to red as it improved the image recall. Fernandes has also stressed on sound talent management practices, so he maintains a flat organization structure at Air Asia. The retention is thus high, and the top executives, encouraged to go beyond their comfy office rooms, to be more hands- on.

Source:http://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/why-airasia-boosts-marketing-during-a-crisis?utm_source=mitsloantwitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=airasia

Uploaded Date:02 February 2019