Samoa Airlines - the first Airline in the world to sell the flight tickets by the kilo!

 Samoa Airlines is the first Airline in the world to sell the flight tickets by the kilo!

According to the Samoa Airlines web site this how it works…

The customer has to give Samoa his weight… within a kilo or two would be fine, then tell Samoa how much baggage he wants to take, the customers can take as many bags as he likes but has to give Samoa the intended total of his baggage in kilos (a kilo is 2.2 pounds)

 The Samoa system will add all of this together and charge by the kilo against the sector fare and that will be the customer’s total airfare. On payment the customer will have a page to download and bring with him when he checks in.

If the customers are traveling as a group and paying as one then follow the same process for each member and again the system will add all the weights and calculate the total cost based on the kilo rate for the sector. 

How does this help the customer: By knowing the weights Samoa can make some arrangements for the best seat for the customer for ease of travel and get customer more leg room and a more spacious seating.  Samoa will weigh everything.

Logic of paying by weight: An Aircraft can only provide a certain amount of weight on each and every sector for Samoa to sell, so Samoa’s commodity is weight!

Samoa gears its price per kilo by working it to pay for the sector and its objective is to carry the full payload – and give everyone equal comfort and to maximize its efficiency so it can offer lower rates.  

So the more Samoa know about actual weight the more efficient it can be at reaching the target then thus bringing its cost per kilo down and the benefit can be passed to the customer. The Benefit is the best price Samoa can deliver for anyone needing to send weight (either cargo or passengers) on any of its sectors.  

Samoa know that weight in advance so it can place the customer or aleast it can try to get the customer space and a seat which is comfortable and Samoa can do that by removing seats, increasing pitch between rows, and leaving areas unoccupied – and if the customer can nominate a companion Samoa know their weight and it can try to give the customer the combination they deserve… and for the larger and heavier customers Samoa will try to give ample space. 

Benefits for families: no more paying for seats for the kids at adult seat fare prices or half adult seat fare prices.  Total up their individual weights and the children get their seats at the same per kilo rate as everyone else on the aircraft pays.  

About cargo or unaccompanied baggage: With Samoa the customer can book the cargo onto any particular flight. Cargo rates are the same as passenger rates because a kilo…is a…kilo.. The only addition to cargo fees is if an item is in need of special handling then an appropriate fee is added. 

Samoa wants to reinvent ways to make air travel a new experience. 

A sweet Lesson in Positioning – How Cadbury became India’s new “Meetha”

A Lesson in Brand Positioning. Why did Cadbury try to replace India’s traditional sweets and actually succeed?

For decades, chocolate in India was seen as a product meant for children. Yet today, Cadbury Dairy Milk is not just a chocolate — it is “meetha”, part of celebrations, rituals, and even new beginnings. How did a foreign chocolate brand enter a deeply rooted cultural space dominated by traditional sweets? The answer lies in one of the most remarkable brand positioning journeys in Indian marketing.

Cadbury India Ltd. is a part of Mondelēz International. Cadbury India operates in five categories:  chocolate confectionery, beverages, biscuits, gum, and candy. In the chocolate confectionery business, Cadbury has maintained its undisputed leadership over the years. Some of its key brands are Cadbury Dairy Milk, Bournvita, 5 Star, Perk, Bournville, Celebrations, Gems, Halls, Éclairs, Bubbaloo, Tang, and Oreo.

In India, Cadbury began its operations in 1948 by importing chocolates. After over 60 years of existence, it now has six company-owned manufacturing facilities at Thane, Induri (Pune), Malanpur (Gwalior), Bengaluru, Baddi (Himachal Pradesh), and Hyderabad, along with four sales offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai. The corporate office is in Mumbai.

In the milk food drinks segment, its main product is Bournvita — the leading malted food drink (MFD) in the country. Similarly, in the medicated candy category, Halls is the leader. Cadbury also entered the biscuits category with the launch of the world’s No. 1 biscuit brand, Oreo.

Cadbury chocolates — the ultimate seductress in the form of chocolate — have been a favorite among Indians. The brand repositioning strategies that Cadbury has adopted over the years have been very interesting and are worth a detailed study.

CDM is for the kid in you: In the early days, Cadbury Dairy Milk (CDM) had a huge fan following among children. In order to build stronger appeal among older age groups, the brand repositioned itself through the ‘Real Taste of Life’ campaign in 1994. The campaign positioned Cadbury Dairy Milk as the chocolate that awakens the little child in every adult.

CDM is for all occasions: With the launch of the ₹5 pack in 1998, CDM became more affordable and accessible to the masses. The subsequent positioning — ‘Khaane waalon ko khaane ka bahana chahiye’ — transformed consumption into a joyful and social occasion.

CDM as a substitute for Indian sweets: In 2004, the ‘Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye’ campaign was launched, with the objective of increasing CDM consumption by making it synonymous with traditional Indian sweets (mithai).

CDM as a dessert: With the campaign ‘Khaane ke baad meethe mein kuch meetha ho jaaye’, Cadbury aimed to introduce the idea of having a Cadbury Dairy Milk as a post-dinner dessert.

CDM and cultural integration: In 2010, the ‘Shubh Aarambh’ campaign was launched, drawing from the traditional Indian custom of having something sweet before beginning something new. With this, Cadbury took the Dairy Milk journey a step further into the hearts of millions of consumers.

Cadbury Gems — the kid in you: The 2011 campaign ‘Raho Umarless’ celebrates the child within all of us. The advertisement depicts two friends unabashedly exchanging gifts that they receive when they buy a Cadbury Gems pack.

Cadbury Éclairs: Cadbury Éclairs has been present in India since 1971. The credit for creating éclairs goes to an English confectionery firm that devised this delicious formula in the 1960s. This indulgent combination of chocolate wrapped in soft, chewy caramel came to Cadbury when it acquired the firm. In 1994, the brand adopted the purple and gold packaging that has since become its trademark.

A New Repositioning Move — Choclairs: Cadbury has also introduced a new repositioning strategy by changing the name from Cadbury Éclairs to Cadbury Choclairs. The think tank at Cadbury seems to believe that its strongest associations lie with the words Cadbury and chocolate, and it wants to avoid any dilution of this identity. Hence, the reinforcement of the word Choclairs alongside Cadbury.

However, one small doubt arises. The category itself is known as an éclair. By moving away from the category name, is Cadbury opening a small window for competitors to step in and claim ownership of the “éclair” space?

Final Thought: Cadbury’s journey clearly shows that positioning is not static. It evolves with time, culture, and consumer behavior. From being a children’s chocolate to becoming India’s preferred “meetha,” Cadbury has successfully embedded itself into the cultural fabric of the country.

The question, however, remains, Is the move to Choclairs a reinforcement of strength, or the beginning of a subtle shift in category ownership?

Keywords: Cadbury positioning strategy, Cadbury Dairy Milk marketing strategy, brand repositioning examples India, Cadbury case study marketing, how Cadbury became meetha, chocolate marketing India, FMCG branding strategies, cultural branding examples,  marketing lessons from Cadbury, brand positioning case study India, Cadbury advertising campaigns India, consumer behaviour chocolate India

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