IndiGo Vs Air India- The Virtual War
Unless you have been living under a rock, there was a whole storm that IndiGo had to deal with when a video of their staffs manhandling a passenger went viral. You can watch the video here:
The video showed an IndiGo passenger, 53-year-old Rajeev Katiyal, being assaulted after arriving in Delhi from Chennai. It showed two IndiGo ground staff wrestling the agitated passenger who was stopped from boarding the shuttle bus. After the backlash that followed, Air India took onto to Twitter and posted two tweets with illustrations that trolled the private carrier.
In one of the image, it showed Air India’s mascot with folded hands with the line ‘We raise our hands only to say Namaste.’
Source: www.ndtv.com
The second image that the government owned carrier tweeted was the tagline, “Unbeatable Service.”
Source: www.ndtv.com
As you can see, both the pictures, which has now been deleted, took a dig on IndiGo without even naming the rival airline. Of course, Twitter being Twitter, it went viral.
Wah. What a campaign. #AirIndia #indigo pls learn pic.twitter.com/6nzJ4gXXmA
— kunal kohli (@kunalkohli) November 8, 2017
Another one! The Maharaja @airindiain surely is in a fun mode. Cant say the same about @IndiGo6E pic.twitter.com/kRXUVzfsI8
— Payal Mehta (@payalmehta100) November 9, 2017
Aha that’s how it’s played. @airindiain wins this one. #indigoairlines pic.twitter.com/VQr2o5Bsra
— Smriti Kak (@smritikak) November 8, 2017
Apart from Air India, IndiGo was also trolled by people in general on social media.
Indigo staff waiting for passengers ! #indigo pic.twitter.com/COSe60I05w — T A C T I C S बिल्ला !! 🦁 (@kalia_987) November 8, 2017
This is an exhibit of how strongly social media can influence and make a huge impact on your brand’s image. Air India capitalized on the situation and came up with a strategy that would make their brand a better option for flyers. Considering Air India has also come under heavy backlash in social media frequently for the lack of services, the airline took this opportunity to be the “better airline”.
The importance of online reputation management becomes vital in order to handle volatile situations, which could either make your brand- in this case for Air India, or break it. At Clatter Chatter, our prompt action by social media experts and analyzers can help your brand come out of the situation. Our dedicated team will work overtime to make sure that such situations are handled with utmost care and make sure that it doesn’t happen again in the future.