How MAB Marketing Efforts Helped its Turnaround Plan

13th Sep 2016

In an interview for Starbiz, Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) Chief Executive Officer Peter Bellew said that the flag carrier made progress in the second quarter of the year, which is usually the weakest for the airline.

MAB reported a steady progress for the Q2 thanks in large part to a successful turnaround plan. Costs remained a central focus as the national flag carrier continues to deliver ahead of its budget.

According to Malaysia Airlines, the company saw an increase in its customer service index as a result of introducing several product improvements earlier in this quarter, while on-time performance also remained stable.

Bellew also pointed out that MAB holds an 8 per cent market share on its London, UK route and has increased its market share by 3 to 4 per cent on other routes generally.

A lot of this can be attributed to aggressive advertising campaigns and sales push. According to Bellew, MAB saw a 10-20 fold return on how much it spend on advertising alone.

Bellew said in a press statement:

In the second half of 2016 we are working hard on revenue generation with more aggressive marketing and sales initiatives whilst maintaining strict cost discipline. We need to move quickly to maximize revenues and I am confident with the steady progress seen that we will succeed.

MAB Launched “Wo Ai Ni” and “Here, There, Everywhere” Marketing Campaigns in July and August

In July this year, Malaysia Airlines introduced a campaign called “Wo Ai Ni” via its loyalty programme Enrich, offering its members to get 50 per cent off flight redemptions from Malaysia to Greater China.

The airline also celebrated the second phase of its turnaround plan by launching a two-day marketing campaign called  “Here, There, Everywhere”, offering reduced seat price on selected domestic and international destinations, starting as low as RM99 one way on Economy Class.

Recently, Malaysia Airlines appointed GroupM and Rally Worldwide to help drive its business revenue. GroupM was hired to take care of MAB’s paid media and media strategy, while Rally Worldwide manages the airlines’ social media.

The carrier also appointed a new chief commercial officer a short while ago as Arved von zur Muehlen replaced the former CCO Paul Simons, who is slated to leave the company this month.