The change is part of a wider brand refurbishment strategy which has been in process since last year. “Air India wants to become the carrier of choice for people flying in and out of India. A large section of the fliers will be business travellers, corporate executives. Maharajah, who wears a turban and has an outsized moustache, though a very successful story, doesn’t resonate anymore with these kinds of customers,” a person aware of the development said.
The Maharajah mascot was created by Bobby Kooka in 1946 when he was commercial director of the airline, while the carrier’s logos have also included the centaur, the rising sun and a flying swan through the decades.
No modern global airline has a mascot representing their brands, the person quoted above said.
Rebranding exercise underway
However, the storied mascot will be kept alive in one form: the airline is likely to continue using the name for its lounges in airports and for business class cabins on board. It has roped in London-based brand and design consultancy firm FutureBrand to redraw Air India’s branding strategy.FutureBrand, which has worked on rebranding American Airlines and British luxury automobile brand Bentley, as well as branding the 2012 London Olympics, will work to upgrade Air India’s identity as it aims to compete against elite carriers like Emirates and Singapore Airlines. The new brand identity will be unveiled in August amidst a slew of print and electronic advertisements. McCann Worldgroup, headed by Prasoon Joshi, has been appointed by the airline for advertising and marketing. Tata Sons and Air India didn’t respond to queries on the subject.
As part of the rebranding exercise, the airline will also get new livery featuring a colour scheme of red, white and dark purple. While Air India’s current livery features red and white, purple symbolises Vistara which will get merged into the airline by March 2024. Purple will be used to keep alive the identity of the premium carrier, which the Tata Group feels has earned significant goodwill among flyers.
The new colour scheme will be unveiled on the Airbus A350 aircraft which Air India plans to induct in November.
As part of a larger integration plan, Vistara will be merged into Air India to create a single full-service airline. Consequently, the Vistara brand will cease to exist. “Vistara has set a high-quality service standard but it is hardly known outside India. So while a dash of purple is being retained on the tail and engine of the aircraft, the name will no longer be used,” the person quoted above said.
The Air India group as a whole, which includes low-cost carrier Air India Express, is likely to adopt Vistara’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for flight safety and customer services.
