Most companies, large, medium, and small alike, operating in the current highly competitive global open market environment, require various instruments to distinguish themselves and their products. One such instrument is marketing, which is used by companies to find new customers, and increase their coverage and sales. In turn, the combination of different techniques and promotional tools employed by a company for marketing purposes can be regarded as the marketing strategy of that company. This paper will consider the two largest companies from the aerospace sector, Airbus and Boeing, and consider which company has a superior marketing strategy.
To begin with, Boeing is an American aerospace company, founded in 1916, specializing in both military and commercial aircraft. The company used to mainly focus on the military sector until the company’s first breakthrough in the commercial airline industry – the Boeing 707 jet airliner (Woo et al., 2021). On the other hand, Airbus was founded in France in 1969, in part as a direct response to American competitors such as Boeing and Lockheed. Airbus’s initial marketing strategy was initially based solely on the A300 program which was to present the world with a new cheaper and superior commercial aircraft. The trend continued through the following decades with Boeing producing flagship commercial aircraft such as B747 and B767 and B777, and Airbus constantly challenging Boeing’s status quo with models like A380, A330, and A340 (Woo et al., 2021). Furthermore, Boeing has established itself as a risk-taking innovative company – the characteristics embedded deep into the company’s culture and marketing strategy. Even after the 737 Boeing Max incidents, the company managed to restore its reputation largely owing to the pre-established brand image and Boeing Global Service’s marketing strategy (Woo et al., 2021). In contrast, Airbus’s business and marketing strategy, apart from producing commercial aircraft able to compete with Boeing, is based on the concepts of luxury and comfort. Starting from the A380 model, Airbus focused on providing a superior customer experience with features like bars, lounges, and showers installed into their commercial aircraft.
In conclusion, Boeing’s marketing strategy is largely based on the pre-established brand image, safety, and innovation, whereas Airbus’s marketing strategy focuses on developing more appealing and luxurious commercial aircraft. It can be said that despite Boeing’s marketing strategy and brand image being strong enough to save the company from the 737 crisis, Airbus’s strategy proves itself to be more efficient for a company younger than Boeing by several decades.
References
Woo, A., Park, B., Sung, H., Yong, H., Chae, J. and Choi, S. (2021). An Analysis of the Competitive Actions of Boeing and Airbus in the Aerospace Industry Based on the Competitive Dynamics Model. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 7(3), 192.