Philippe Malaval

Aerospace Marketing Management

This book presents an overall picture of both B2B and B2C marketing strategies, concepts and tools, in the aeronautics sector. This is a significant update to an earlier book successfully published in the nineties which was released in Europe, China and the USA. It addresses the most recent trends such as social marketing and the Internet, customer orientation, project marketing, and concurrent engineering, coopetition, and extended entreprise. Aerospace Marketing Management is the first marketing handbook richly illustrated with executive and expert inputs as well as examples from parts suppliers, aircraft builders, airlines, helicopter manufacturers, aeronautics service providers, airports, defence and military companies, and industrial integrators (tier-1, tier-2). This book is designed as a ready reference for professionals and graduates from both Engineering and Business Schools.

Marketing in the Aeronautics Industry

Over the last decade the aeronautics industry has undergone an evolution which has fundamentally modified managerial practice within the sector. From being a product based industry, there has been a progressive move towards a market-driven one, representing a turning point in marketing for an industrial sector with many particularities.

Selecting Distribution Channels and Sales Team Management

When aircraft builders and parts suppliers sell to businesses, distribution is often highly simplified. In general, there is no intermediary between the supplier and the customer and consequently, it is possible to focus on managing the sales team (direct channel). However, a product as complex as a plane can also be sold to a leasing company. In this case the latter plays the intermediary role. This phenomenon which began with civil aircraft is rapidly developing in the business jet sector. However, it is in the context of sales to individual consumers that indirect distribution is especially important. The airlines have sometimes adopted very distinct strategies in terms of ticket distribution. First we will look at the main functions of distribution from a logistics and commercial point of view, and then we will discuss selecting and managing a distribution channel. We will look at merchandising which allows travel agencies to best adapt supply to demand and the main specifications of services distribution and industrial trade.

Marketing in the Aeronautics and Space Industry

Over the last few years the aeronautics and space industry has undergone an evolution which has fundamentally modified managerial practice within the sector. From being a product based industry, there has been a progressive move towards a customer focus one, representing a turning point in marketing for an industrial sector with many particularities.

“Entering Goods” Brands: The Development of Co-Branding

“Entering goods” have three main characteristics. They are generally not purchaseable by end consumers. They are selected by industrial customers and then integrated into the production process. Physically they are delivered in a way which does not allow end users to use them. For instance, Lycra® fibers such as Tetra Pak packaging are delivered in reels which require industrial equipment to be transformed into underwear, clothing and pre-finished packaging.

Industrial Brand Classification

While much research has been done on the classification of consumer brands, the same cannot be said of industrial brands. The latter can be classified and characterized by applying traditional methods, analyzing the brand portfolio of major companies in the industrial sector, and finally, using the “purchaseability” and “visibility” concepts developed in Chapter 6.

Purchaseability and Visibility of Industrial Brands

Unlike consumer brands, industrial brands are generally not seen or are never purchased by end users. Concerning essentially professional customers, industrial brands can differ greatly depending on “purchaseability” and visibility by end consumers. They are generally unknown by the consumer public, even when they belong to powerful groups. Some brands such as Lycra®, Intel® or Tetra Pak have, however, reached very high awareness rates. These results and the advertising investments dedicated to these brands are surprising, as consumers cannot buy their actual products directly. Brands like Xerox, Grohe, Legrand, Intel® or Gore-Tex® have chosen to advertise on television, while they aim, first of all, at business targets. They are now trying to make themselves known by the consumer public. Whatever their motivations, it seems necessary to explain the different ways an industrial brand can reach the final customer.

The Brand and its Mechanisms

Today, brands are of increasing concern to business professionals, as well as being the subject of numerous surveys and research. Most of the time, brands are analyzed in terms of the consumer market, in other words, from the perspective of the end-user rather than the professional purchaser. Many concepts (brand equity, brand associations, etc.) and tools for measuring brand performance have indeed contributed to understanding their main operating mechanisms, without, however, focusing on the specific context of industrial markets.

The Role of the Brand in the Industrial Purchase

Since the end of the 1980s, brand management1 has been of growing interest to companies and has received increasing attention in marketing literature. The research on brand management goes further than brand image and strategy by studying the concepts of brand equity and extension2. But the literature essentially deals with consumer product brands, bought by individuals and households for personal use. Industrial brand management involves studying the role of the brand in inter-company trade relationships. This means taking the brand into account when analyzing the buyer’s behavior within an industrial context

Business to Business Service Brands

Professional services are all the services on the market which aimed at companies: Furniture, goods and equipment rental for companies: rental of cars and industrial vehicles, building equipment (cranes, cement-mixers, scanffolding, etc.), office and IT equipment (word processors, photocopiers and scanners, computers and peripherals, telephone equipment, software license fees), farming machinery (tractors, combine harvesters, etc.), transport and freight equipment (freight cars, containers, ships, planes, etc.), machines and equipment (machine tools, boring and exploratory equipment, telecommunication and electronic equipment, measuring instrument, etc.), IT and telecommunications services: consulting design of programs, data processing, technical assistance, maintenance, system integration, network management, etc., Legal services: counseling and representation (for civil, penal or administrative matters or for work or business disputes), counseling and assistance (for patents and royalties), drawing up and recording of acts (statutes, trust deeds, etc.), Assessment and consulting professions concerning the supply to companies of tools for help with financial and economic decision making, e.g. for accounting (book-keeping, audits, etc.), market research and opinion polls, economic and financial studies, management consulting