Bangkok Chosen by Turkish Airlines to Launch its Largest Outdoor Campaign Ever

Cementing its plans to use Thailand as its hub for Indochina and Asia, Turkish Airlines has chosen Bangkok for its largest global outdoor advertisement placement ever. It is also a first for the Baiyoke Tower, currently one of the tallest buildings in Bangkok, for branding by an international airline. Highlighting the airline's campaign - Globally Yours - the building wrap conveys the airline's strength in Network Power with its strategic location Istanbul being in the heart of Europe.

 “Even though Thailand has faced several difficulties both economic and political in the last year we was pleased to announce a 6% increase in load factor over the previous year taking the load ratio to 80%. Given customer confidence and spending was at an all time low worldwide over this period we are pleased that passengers had confidence in our airline and the services and network linkage that our airline offers,” said Mr Adnan Aykac, Turkish Airlines General Manager for Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

 “As a European carrier Bangkok is the most important destination in the Far East and we have some exciting plans for 2010-2011. Turkish Airlines is also well into talks with Vietnam Airlines on cooperation between Ho Chi Minh and Bangkok in pursuit of making Bangkok as our regional hub linking Southeast Asia with Indochina. In addition Turkish Airlines will be increasing its services to Bangkok later in the year with at least 10 flights weekly or up to double daily to Bangkok if the codesharing plan with Thai Airways International is agreed. The airline has been a member of Star Alliance since 2008. And the Australian government this week announced it has signed its first air services agreement with Turkey to allow airlines to immediately start direct flights 5 times per week between the two countries,” he added.

It has been a busy year with the airline actively pursing sports sponsorships to help build the brand and passenger numbers. Turkish Airlines signed exclusive sponsorship agreements with two major football teams as their exclusive carrier – FC Barcelona and Manchester United. Last week an agreement was also signed with Maroussi Basketball Club of Greece.

The airline has already shown it will be a force to compete with in terms of its strategic marketing plans. Using the “Globally Yours” slogan the campaign shows passengers how easy to connect to more than 158 destinations with minimal turnaround time at airports. A global advertising budget of US$ 70 million has been allocated to year 2010 spend, a 50% increase over the previous year.

Mr Aykac said, “The business strategy for Thailand specifically is certainly to develop as quickly as possible Bangkok as the hub for the carrier. From a passenger perspective the focus will be on generating awareness of Turkish Airlines, our products and services to reach more Thais. Specific programmes for the student market, labour travel and incentive groups are being developed.

The Globally Yours advertising campaign was first launched in Thailand at Suvarnabhumi Airport in January this year. In terms of marketing spend Turkish Airlines has committed US$ 1 million (Bt 30million) for the Thai market for year 2010. Advertising in newspapers, magazines, television and online media is also underway.

“Following the success of our partnership in 2009 with The Mall Group and Siam Paragon, Turkish Airlines has extended its joint campaign to attract the top-end spenders through the M Card marketing campaign. Other business partners include American Express Credit card and Citibank. We are also looking for possible cooperation with other business partners, as well as selected Chambers of Commerce in Thailand,” Mr Aykac added.

Turkish Airlines has been operating to Thailand for some 21 years. The airline currently operates daily flights from Bangkok to Istanbul with convenient connecting flights to more than 158 destinations worldwide.

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