"We're shifting to being travel-and-lifestyle centric": InterMiles' Zameer Kochar

InterMiles' VP, marketing and member engagement, on the brand's new campaign.

InterMiles, the erstwhile frequent flyer programme of Jet Airways , has launched an integrated marketing campaign around the theme, “A Reward for All Journeys of Life”. The 35-second-long 'master' film, conceptualised by DDB Mudra, is accompanied by 13 shorter (11-23 seconds) ads.

The campaign aims to educate consumers about the numerous ways available to earn and redeem InterMiles, while fulfilling their travel and lifestyle aspirations, across flights to any destination, hotel stays, shopping, dining and a lot more.

Zameer Kochar, vice president, marketing and member engagement, InterMiles, tells us the thematic campaign is based around the key insight that all journeys in life, whether big or small, work or leisure, matter. “We are embarking on a new journey with our new brand campaign for InterMiles, built on sound business fundamentals, the trust of millions of members and the passion of a committed team,” he says.

Talking about the brand's journey post the shutdown of its airways business in April last year, Kochar mentions that for the last five years, the brand has been working towards a platform model, becoming an aggregator across categories. “We have been charting our shift from being airline-centric to being travel-and-lifestyle centric. Today, we are an enabler of our members’ entire travel and lifestyle needs across flights to any destination, stay, shopping, dining, and experiences at the destination.”

He adds, “As we reinforce our commitment to the promise of making our members’ journey more fulfilling, our growth plan is, now, focused on aggregating more benefits and simplifying access to a growing bouquet of experiences and rewards.”

We asked him if consumer behaviour towards the reward programme has changed since the airways business went down. “It’s early days with the brand re-launch, but what’s heartening to see is that a lot of users are actively searching for the new brand, thereby reflecting in a high pull of the brand as well as a lot of positive consumer sentiment around the new brand on our social platforms,” he points out.

He shares that InterMiles is seeing a consistent week-on-week growth on the website visits. This, he says, is a sheer indicator of more users becoming aware of InterMiles. “This also highlights an increase in engagement and activations among our existing member base. The new brand impact should only increase once we further amplify its presence with our integrated marketing campaign.”

The launch of the campaign is being complemented by the introduction of InterMiles’ new mobile app, aimed to make travel planning and booking easier as well as elevating the overall customer experience. The app is available for free download on the Google Play Store for Android users and iOS App Store for Apple users, allowing members to book flights, hotels, dining, shopping and to explore many other experiences.

Speaking of the target audience, Kochar shares that the brand's core consumers are the “experience seekers”. “These are well-travelled, exposed to global / local trends, likely to travel frequently whether it’s for business or for leisure. They are upwardly mobile, digitally savvy, want to explore the world around them and are driven more by the experience than just the transaction, making every bit of their travel, count.”

Keeping in mind the evolving travel and lifestyle needs of these discerning consumers who continuously seeking rewarding and memorable experiences that are unique and exclusively curated for their needs, he adds, "InterMiles consumer value proposition of 'Rewarding all journeys of life' resonates well with this focused customer set mindset."

The campaign will go live across TV, Outdoor, Digital, Social Platforms in the next few days to heighten awareness, as well as to educate consumers about the multiple ways they can engage and get rewarded with InterMiles for everything they do.