by: Petra Despot, brand consultant
There is an interesting Croatian website called aviokarte.hr. It sells airplane tickets, but it is mostly known for its guerrilla marketing efforts and for using the most unusual places to promote their web site. For example, their logo can be found clearly printed over a bridge, written on a deserted truck left by the highway or hanging from the top of a building in the centre of Zagreb.
Those of you from Croatia have probably heard of aviokarte.hr or seen their guerrilla. But how many of you have actually paid a visit to their website, or better yet purchased a ticket via aviokarte.hr? I have seen their logo a million times in various places, and I actually liked them for their straightforwardness and simplicity. However, when I actually had to purchase an airline ticket I didn’t think of browsing through aviokarte.hr.
Their logo may be well imprinted all over Croatia, but has it been imprinted in the minds of the consumers as well? And if it has, what does it stand for?
When checking aviokarte.hr page rank on Alexa, it turned out they weren’t ranked in the top 500 Croatian web sites. Searching for their competitive advantage also led me to a dead end as their website was somehow lacking the “about us” section and on their Facebook profile there was a vague brand mission of “flying together to the final destination”. It turned out they weren’t even offering the cheapest tickets available so there went my last hope for at least a decent functional benefit.
Although we may notice them and like them on a superficial level, aviokarte.hr is actually a great example of a brand that lacks a follow-through. Most of the time, a guerrilla stunt is just not enough to engage a consumer on a deeper level and to build brand equity. What aviokarte.hr needs to do is to back up its guerrilla marketing efforts with a stronger message of what it really stands for. You may have all the brand awareness in the world, but if your brand isn’t top of mind when making a purchasing decision, you may well be investing your money and your efforts somewhere else.
Yep,I visited their site several times when looking for tickets but I wasn't satisfied with what they had to offer.Love their marketing strategy but something is definitely missing.
Posted by: VectoryBelle | Jun 28, 2011 at 12:38 PM