Campaign Summary

Vietjet utilized data analytics from various media channels to maintain existing customers and expand its market throughout the APAC region.

Strategy

Objective

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, although Vietnam's aviation industry had seen a full recovery in the domestic aviation market at the end of 2022, the international market was still gradually recovering and was expected to reach 34 million passengers by the end of 2023, which accounts for 83.5 percent of 2019 levels.

Vietjet used this information and an understanding of its own challenges when developing its campaign. Its challenges included:

• Macro factors (economic fluctuations, layoffs, etc.) that led to a drop in consumer purchasing power
• Changes in consumer behavior, such as a growing preference for short trips or domestic travel with fewer travel restrictions
• Vietjet's global standardization and local adaptation of marketing, which had to meet potential customers' unique travel preferences

To overcome the challenges and to expand sales and market share in Asia-Pacific regions (APAC), Vietjet's direction was to develop an innovative marketing approach that would drive significant sales at optimized costs with the application of Customer Data Platform (CDP) to enhance customers' experience via ad personalization at every touchpoint in their journey, from demand generation to conversion.

Context

To avoid overused tactics, Vietjet adopted new approaches — new both the brand and the aviation industry. For instance, Vietjet's campaign represented:

• The first time a comprehensive integrated campaign had been performed across online and offline media with the most optimized investment
• The first time a customer data platform (CDP) had been utilized to enhance customer experience through ad personalization, with roughly 150 million consumers' data analyzed to predict consumer behavior

The campaign was considered as a ramp-up promotion for Vietjet not only to capitalize on growing demand but also to instantly generate demand throughout the market recovery's uncertainty.

Target Audience

Vietjet had aimed to both retain existing customers and acquire new customers for inbound and outbound markets. Its primary audience was those aged 22 to 45, interested in traveling, and digitally connected.

• Acquire New Customers. For inbound travelers to Vietnam, Vietjet targeted APAC residents, including locals, expatriates, and Vietnamese overseas. For outbound travelers departing from Vietnam, Vietjet targeted residents of five major cities in Vietnam (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Hai Phong), expatriates whose home country was within the APAC region, and international travelers in Vietnam.
• Retain Existing Customers. Vietjet targeted all customers on its customer data platform (CDP) with 300-plus deep segmentations.

Creative and Media Strategy

The campaign was deployed in local languages for different flight routes with distinct preferences and tailored for customers from 300-plus in-depth customer segments with various demographic profiles and spending behaviors.

Travel signal information derived from the CDP was used to forecast potential travel demand. Furthermore, to maximize conversion while avoiding over-exposing the consumers with repetitive advertisements, creative assets and campaign frequency were set according to user flow and buying intention.

Execution/Use of Media

Vietjet followed a mobile-first approach as a steppingstone for the customer experience. The budget allocated for mobile was approximately 75 percent of the total campaign budget (varying according to channels). Three major tools employed to carry out the 12-week campaign in line with the plan were:

• CDP activation and insights generation. Vietjet evaluated nearly 150 million customer data to understand buyers' journey and travelling habits and how economic and social factors affected their decision-making process after Covid-19.
• Cross-channel segmentation. Vietjet generated 300-plus in-depth customer segments utilizing Vietjet's massive data set, which provided billions of intent signals and real-time events with 100-plus attributes.
• Cross-channel personalization. Vietjet created multiple campaigns across 25-plus channels to target specific segments utilizing CDP data and deliver personalized ads using an AI-backed customer experience system, Netcore.

Business Impact

Despite having over 42 percent of the domestic market share and being the domestic market leader in Vietnam, Vietjet had a small share in the international market. Since COVID-19, travel and tourism has increased slowly, thus the airline needed a push to increase sales in the APAC region. Some of the results of the campaign included the following.

• Increased awareness and demand generation. Media coverage grew over 80 percent, with a unique reach of more than 125 million people in the APAC region.
• Generated engagement. Vietjet reached 850,000 individuals with an estimated EMV (Earned Media Value) of 130,000 U.S. dollars by cooperating with influencers, travel blogs, travel communities, and augmented reality advertisements.
• Converted sales. Sales increased by six times compared to the same period in 2022, garnering 1.7 million flight bookings, and nearly 115 million U.S. dollars in sales.
• Reached 150 million lifetime customers. International customer grew 918.3 percent, the highest growth compared to other Vietnam market airlines.
• Pioneered the use of a CDP in the APAC aviation industry. Vietjet demonstrated its effectiveness in maximizing marketing performance, which encouraged other companies in the industry to consider investing in a CDP or data in general.
• Increased customer demand for travel. The campaign increased customer demand for travel by 2.7 (according to Google Search Trend), contributing to the recovery and growth of the whole travel sector in Vietnam and the APAC region after COVID-19.