I was recently reading about ‘experiential marketing’ on ‘Marketing Practices’, a blog by an IIM L professor on how marketing has evolved towards it. The example of HUL coming out with websites like ‘I am beautiful’ for its products like Ponds, Dove and Lux where customers share their product experiences from which HUL gains customer engagement are all recent examples of experiential marketing. I too have an example to showcase something on the same lines.
Today, I was travelling from IIM C to Delhi on an Indigo flight. As soon as the plane was level in the sky, the airhostess rolled their cart with food items. On asking them for a Coke, which unfortunately they were out of stock, I was quite surprised when after sometime they came back with a glass of Pepsi, offering it to me free of cost. They said that it was theirs and were not feeling good that they were not able to serve their customer well.
I believe that even though Indigo is the most low cost airline in the Indian market today; such experiences would delight the customers. This would ultimately lead to customer retention and royalty, with this becoming a win-win game for both the parties involved.
PS: just waiting for the Indigo IPO to happen ;)
