 "An Indian brand that delivers an \"on-time\" promise?!")
About 20 years ago, I was staying at the Windsor Manor, Bangalore, when I saw a tent card in my room daring me to beat their room service.
The room service menu had about 20 items listed on it; order anything on the menu and if you weren’t served in 15 minutes, the food was free.
I rarely order in the room, but hey, what the hell, I could beat these guys. I ordered a mix and match of veg and non-veg, taking care to choose only those items that (I thought) needed to be ‘cooked’.
I lost.
[caption id=“attachment_5520” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Dominoes Pizza Box. Luke MacGregor / Reuters”]  [/caption]
The next morning, I was in conversation with the GM. Does anyone ever win, I asked him. “Only when we want to lose,” he said.
Brands don’t mind losing to customers now and then.
Take this ‘game’ that Domino’s plays with their customers…
You order a pizza. It comes to you in 30 minutes – or it’s free!
So you play the game, as all of us have, and you lose, and you lose and you lose. And Domino’s wins and wins and wins.
Once in a while, your order doesn’t reach you in the promised time…and you win!
And Domino’s wins again, because you want to beat them again. And you order again and again and again, and you lose.
If you think about it, in a country like India, do you expect anything to be delivered on time? The brand created a new possibility for you to think about – something delivered so fast, and a challenge to you that it would be on time. You were intrigued by the possibility and began to sample, then embrace a new experience.
Not the pizza, silly. Home delivery in 30 minutes.
More than a decade later, IndiGo Airlines planted a new, impossible thought: that scheduled flights could be on time with this delightful commercial by Weiden + Kennedy:
There’s no game, there’s no challenge. If the flight is not on time, you don’t get to fly for free.
It’s obvious that, before making this commercial, IndiGo designed an aircraft utilisation and a schedule that allowed them to be reasonably certain that a majority of their flights could be on time. Their commanders make it a point to announce on-time departures and landings on the PA system.
When the flight is late, no announcement is made.
While on-time is a wonderful thing, late is not.
So what’s the point? Why take such a risk?
Because when the flight is on time, you win, and are reminded that IndiGo told you that on-time was a wonderful thing.
And when it’s late, you say to yourself, it happens, all flights are late.
IndiGo doesn’t lose. they own the association to a fantastic phrase in their category, ‘on-time’.
The thinking behind this is a wonderful thing.
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