Marketing, publicity and corporate image in airlines sector: Iberia, Airlines of Spain, 1941-2000.1 JAVIER VIDAL Universidad de Alicante [email protected] The airlines are companies that have had from their origins a very wide, national and international market. When “flag airlines” had their protected national markets and guaranteed the monopoly of the bilateral air relationships, the companies hardly used the marketing and the publicity to be able to increase their traffics. Between 1945 up to 1987, most of them enjoyed little competition2. However it does not mean not to be subjected to the normal pressure of an airline to win traffics. Between 1945 and 1960 flag airlines like Iberia hardly moved in a competitive market in spite of the quick growth of passengers demand. From 1960 the situation changed. The strong impulse of the tourism and the introduction of jets airliners and the new airplanes of wide body caused a substantial change in the airlines market. The market was enlarged quickly with a new increase of traffics. It was in this period when Iberia increased its resources dedicated to the publicity. At the same time it also varied their corporate image. Iberia grew in size and ended up having at the beginning of the years 1970 a very good position among the big European companies. From 1974 Iberia increased its resources dedicated to the publicity to counteract the problems of passengers' relative decrease for increment of the competition. Starting from then the company had to maintain a continuous effort to open new routes and increasing traffics. The advertising campaigns happened unceasingly. From 1978 the corporate image was changed and began on the way to facing the liberalization of the markets. The decade of 1980 and 1990 were years of very quick changes in those that the traditional identity of Iberia and their markets were subjected to continuous changes. This paper tries to explain the central elements of the behaviour of Iberia in each one of the periods of its commercial history through its campaigns of publicity and marketing and of its corporate image. Our conclusions show that the company had three important geographical markets: Europe, Spain and America. In each one of the chronological periods Iberia went to these markets impacting in the characteristics of the demand and trying to explain their offer through different channels. The resources dedicated to marketing and publicity were growing. They impacted in different topics depending from the offer of Iberia and the demand. The topics varied as they were changing the preferences of the passengers and internal changes of Iberia as corporative culture. From very early Iberia internationalized their advertising campaigns what transformed it into a pioneer company in Spain in the use of the modern marketing techniques. 1 This text is part of a research about Iberia, Airlines of Spain, that will be published by Lid Empresarial, Madrid, 2005. 2 R. Doganis (1991, 2001) M. Staniland (2003) 1 Hard competition and the changes happened in the markets from 1960 took Iberia to begin to worry about their corporate image. From 1978 it modified their external image in a significant way. It was justified by the political changes that took place in Spain. The recovery of the democratic system and the return of the Monarchy impelled the image changes that were expressed in a new logo and changes in the painting in the fuselage of the airplanes. Starting from these years Iberia was debated in a very competitive market that forced to its organizational structure to increase its resources in publicity and marketing. In this point the Spanish airline looked for to consolidate its traditional markets of Europe and Latin America and to get ready for the liberalization of the international markets being centred in those demand segments that it could be competitive. From 1996 and until the privatization of the company, Iberia experienced an increase of the resources in publicity and corporate image that have contributed significantly to the benefits that the airline has obtained in the last nine years. 1. Iberia. The first decades of the company, 1940-1960 Iberia was born as private company in 1927. After some years of activity the airline was integrated in 1931 in a company of public capital denominated CLASSA. With the Spanish Civil War, Iberia flew again with the support of the Franco faction and technological resources of Germany, through the agreements carried out with Lufthansa. When concluding the Spanish Civil War Iberia was nationalized and after the exit of the German interests, it was integrated in 1944 in the National Institute of Industry -INI- a holding of public capital controlled by the Spanish State. The incorporation of Iberia to the Spanish State was made granting to the airline the monopoly of the air transport in Spain and the consideration of flag airline for the operations of international transports. With this premise Iberia started its commercial flights network in the peninsula, considering the whole national market that included the Balearic Islands, Canaries, the possessions of the north of Africa, Western Sahara and the colony of Equatorial Guinea. During 1940 Iberia used relatively little publicity to promote its product. The economic situation of the country was disastrous with low income levels per capita, below the level that had reached in 1930. The restrictions to the imports and the shortage of fuel that characterized the economy of the first period of Franco’s dictatorship also affected the Iberia offer. The situation of international political isolation of Franco up to 1950 confined the advertising action from Iberia to the Spanish and Latin America market. In this last one the reasons that prevailed were those of the prestige and the interest to show that the Franco regime had supports from the other side of the Atlantic, especially from the Argentinean regime with Juan Domingo Perón3. The establishment of the flight between Madrid and Buenos Aires in 1946 opened a step to the establishment of connections with Latin America. This continent passed to become the preferable destination of Iberia. It obeyed it two reasons. The recovery of the idea of the old Spanish Empire that was very pleasing to Franco's regime and the objective of getting in a direct connection with the United States. For Franco's regime the supports coming from Latin American was basic taking in to account the isolation of their regime 3 R. Raanan (2003), pp.44-62 2 in the international community4. The North Americans were also another of Franco's objectives, especially after Hitler's and Mussolini defeat. The North American political and financier support was fundamental after the war. These reasons help to understand that the posters of Iberia reproduced fundamental topics of the imaginary of the Hispanic culture. Don Quixote, a classic of the Spanish literature, was printed in 1948 posters; the Catholicism of the Latin America like the birdcall travellers' from Iberia toward this continent or the exaltation of the folklore of the different Spanish regions. All this topics were fundamental points of the sober Spanish publicity in that time. The connections with Europe hardly received advertising interest in the decade of 1940 and first years of 1950. Although Iberia developed its European network quickly, western powers didn't sympathize with Franco's regime and they were not a fundamental objective of the Iberia’s managers that in this point responded to the guidelines marked by the INI, the main shareholder of the airline and faithful defender of the economic and politic autarchy. In this first posters it was common the inclusion of the most modern airplanes of Iberia’s fleet. Iberia that had used from 1927 German apparatuses was incorporating from 1944 airplanes coming from the United States. The German Junker remained in the fleet, after the retreat of German influence in Iberia, but DC-3 and DC-4 coming from USA began to be basics in front of the Germanic aeroplanes. As symbol of prestige, since the aeronautical technology of the United States was after the war the most developed one, and like argument of security, all the big European and USA airlines, spread to include in its strategy of publicity, the most modern airplanes that used in its fleet. Iberia thoroughly exploited this resource in all the advertising formats, from timetables to posters exposed in travel agencies, including announcements in newspapers and magazines. Where more it could appreciate this use of the most recent airplanes it was in the decade of 1950. Most of the Iberia printed posters for their publicity incorporated the most important airplane in their fleet. The Lockheed Superconstellation was the aeroplane acquired in 1953 to start the non stop route between Madrid and New York. The purchase of this apparatus was a bet of the INI, main Iberia’s shareholder, to inaugurate the new time of political relationships and diplomats with the United States. The signature of the treaties between Spain and USA in 1953 started a narrow alliance between both countries5. The alliance meant in aeronautical terms the narrow linking between the interests of USA manufacturing companies and the policy of acquisition of fleet for Iberia. In these relationships the more benefited from these new relationships it was Douglas the company that became until the arrival of the airplanes Boeing 747 in 1968, in the favourite of Iberia. J. A. Suanzes, director of the INI up to 1963, considered Douglas the best supplying company of Iberia. The new relationships among USA and Spain and the backing that the American power gave to Franco's regime coincided with the take off of the firsts waves of USA tourists. The publicity of Iberia in the United States starting from 1954 was based on the exploitation of the existent topics on the image that Spain projected in foreign countries.