“When other airlines slashed advertising during the SARS scare in 2003, AirAsia tripled its spending,” wrote The Economist about the low-cost airline, Asia Air, that has defied expectations.
As I’ve written before, marketing is akin to having a conversation in a crowded room. When the economy is good, there are many conversations and marketers can only speak in small circles. When the economy is poor, competitors often slash marketing budgets first, the room grows still and herein lies the opportunity, as this Asia Air example demonstrates.
Marketing in a recession is like marketing in a quiet room; it’s an opportunity.
Asia Air had, as the Economist put it, “no shortage of sceptics” [sic]. Founded just after 9/11, with an unproven cost-model, in an industry where, “few budget long-haul airlines have survived for very long,” the odds seemed stacked against the company. Yet it has, so far, been successful and profitable.
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Photo credit: Flickr, Dean Morley (CC BY-ND 2.0)
