Media Spend
Jetstar
Jetstar jetted out of the aerodrome with $29.2 million in media spend over the past 12 months, which was up by $7 million from the previous year, according to Nielsen Media AIS. 4/5
Virgin Blue
Virgin Blue fluffed up its feathers with a 61% increase in its media spend. Matching Jetstar, Virgin Blue outlaid
$29.1 million from May 2007 to May 2008 3/5
Competition
Jetstar
Discount airlines that service bottom feeders will be in the brace position if the aviation outlook continues to weaken. Fuel prices are still climbing, and the market’s transitioning into an autumnal phase with young upstarts like Tiger Airways practically turning intern Jetstar into an elder statesman. And Jetstar will soon lose its point man Alan Joyce to mainstream big-hitter Qantas. 3/5
Virgin Blue
Times are tough. Virgin Blue has introduced new baggage fees and retired two aircraft from service in a bid to stanch the blood flow from a rising fuel bill. Still, Virgin Blue wants to know, where’s the love, the fawning admiration? Economic downturns aside, the cultists at Virgin Blue are forging ahead with the launch of V Australia, the newest international airline in Australia. 3/5
Advertising
Jetstar
The team at Jetstar like to skywrite their individuality at every opportunity. Why did Jetstar wade into the behind-the-scenes world of baggage mishaps and arbitrary passenger animosity of reality TV when it’s been done to death? Surely Jetstar had something different to say. Alas, Going Places is really just
about the behind-the-scenes world of baggage mishaps and arbitrary passenger animosity. 3/5
Virgin Blue
CEO Brett Godfrey thought Cummins-Nitro’s “Chuck-a-sickie sale” ads for Virgin slopped over the brim of decency. He took one look at the ad, which encourages customers to take sickies to book cheap flights, heard the complaints, and purged ’em from the airwaves. Quick thinking by the commander in chief. Seems like any initiative that doesn’t shamelessly flog its charismatic frontman Richard Branson ends up as air pollutant. 4/5
Family ties
Jetstar
Jetstar and Qantas are intimate bedfellows, but you would never know it. Jetstar postures as its own sovereign self. For instance, its silver-chested independence is asserted by cracking the whip on bedraggled travellers, barring them if they’re 30 minutes late for a flight. For whimpering latecomers this is a mite pedantic. But Jetstar’s autonomy has meant it has emerged from Qantas’s shadow to become a successful business in its own right. 4/5
Virgin Blue
Virgin Blue has the Virgin Group as its distant master. It also has captain of industry, pistol-swinging cowboy and media darling Richard Branson to add an executive aura to the brand. Its fun and irreverent reputation has allowed it to differentiate itself and mount such campaigns as the April Fools joke promo “No Chair Fare”, which promised passengers the option of cutting their fare in half by standing up for the flight. 5/5
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