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Flight training centers on cloud nine(Ecomonic Times, The (India) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Apr. 26--One could say that Frankfinn is used to turbulence -- the brand got into difficulties when trying to register itself as a company, as officials were suspicious about its "foreign-sounding" name. But that was just something dreamed up by chairman KS Kohli, as an extension of 'Frank', the pseudonym he used to write poetry under. In fact, it was the sight of his published poems that swung things in his favour, and the brand was finally registered in 1993. Since then, the first-of-its-kind training institute for airline inflight staff has come a long way. From its first one-week training course, it's moved to set up 61 dedicated training centres in cities as far flung as Shillong, Ranchi, Karnal and Guwahati, apart from the major metros. And it's set to see 10,000 students graduate from its mock-aeroplane training room in the current financial year. Of course, Frankfinn really came of age post the boom in the domestic aviation sector. And not just in terms of turnover -- which was close to Rs 50 crore as on March 2006, and is projected to more than double in the next two years. It also came of age in the modern marketing world, with an ahead-of-its-time film tie-in; in 2004, it used the film Dil Maange More, starring Shahid Kapoor and Soha Ali Khan, to promote the brand. The film portrays Soha Ali Khan as an aspiring air hostess who comes to Mumbai and joins the Frankfinn Institute of Air Hostess Training. The company later signed on Soha as its brand ambassador, and used her for its print and television ad campaigns. "It was a wise decision and it helped the brand to evolve. Now she's a big star, and we're reaping the benefits," says managing director Rakesh Agarwal. This is unlike the 90s when the company only focused on print advertising. "Television campaigns give a national reach. They are also more cost effective in the long run as the cost gets divided percent re," says Agarwal. The scale of the training business was, of course, growing pretty fast. Between 1993 and 2003, Frankfinn was based in Delhi, and only occasionally conducted one-week courses in other cities. In 2003, it set up a dedicated training centre in Mumbai, and launched a one-year diploma programme in Aviation, Hospitality and Travel Management. Since then, the number of training centres has leapfrogged, and its student intake is evenly split between those from small towns and those from big cities. Fitting, considering that the airline revolution is letting even first-time flyers take to the skies. Frankfinn's students pay an average fee of Rs 92,000 for a one-year part-time course, and there are between 250 and 300 students enrolling at each of its centres. The company runs educational seminars and marketing campaigns in colleges, making sure it catches its target market. Its inhouse magazine, Aviation Times, features information about the aviation industry, and plenty of details of its programmes, including photos of its classrooms -- designed as mock-ups of aircraft interiors. Interestingly, the classrooms have also been used as sets for various film shoots; Frankfinn considers those cameo appearances on television screens as brand promotions for the school -- a thought that also applies to its recent diversification into the music industry. "Music may be an independent business, but it helps in making our brand stronger as it caters to the same target audience. When people ask me what's the common denominator between music and aviation, I tell them it's glamour," explains Agarwal. That's also the reason why most of its TV ad presence (almost 90 percent) is on music channels. The ads, incidentally, are usually created in-house, with the company hiring creative consultants instead of signing an ad agency. "Even when music videos are shot, we're personally there all night, and we supervise the making of every ad," says Agarwal. The company's obviously gained a taste for diversification -- its plans for the future include launching a low-cost airline by 2009. But likely to get off the ground first is its plans to enter into the pilot training business -- Frankfinn has bought 12 acres of land near Panjim in Goa to set up a residential institute. It's confident that it has the basic credentials to expand into this more intensive training area. Says Agarwal, "Credibility is very important in this field. Unlike other institutes, we treat students as customers and not mere students." And, of course, it goes without saying that all of them turn into flying brand ambassadors. |