Rynair

Introduction

Ryanair is one of the most unique and successful low-cost airlines in Europe. Despite having so many negative associations, it still remains the leader in this market by having the biggest share of customers and flights (European Low Fares Airline Association, 2008). Hence, what are Ryanair brand key secrets making it so successful? The Keller‘s Customer-Based Brand Equity Model incorporated with Pillars of the Brand were used to make an analysis which helped to answer this question. Ryanair brand was analysed according to such components as brand awareness, brand associations (Pillars of the Brand) and brand image. Brand awareness includes the performance of both brand recall and recognition. Evaluating Pillars of the Brand and brand image, the set of both positive and negative associations was sorted out which determines the brand equity of Ryanair.

Brand Awareness

Measuring awareness helps us to identify how strong the brand is in the mind set of the consumers (Aaker, 1996). Different tests were carried out in order to test the brand recognition of Ryanair . The tests included making the participants identify the Ryanair brand using two cues (Appendix B). In the first exercise the participants were given a set of colours and had to match the colours to the airline. Out of fifteen responses, only three were able to attribute Ryanair with the colour blue. On the other hand, EasyJet was a clear leader in the “colours” battle, due to its strong saturation of the orange colour. The second test involved people being able to identify different brands when given the logo as a cue. Although, the Ryanair logo looked memorable, people were unable to recognise it. Therefore, the results proved that both the logo and the colour do not add much equity to the brand. However, the brand scored high on the brand recall tests (Appendix A) when given the airline product category as a cue. But it should be questioned whether this is sufficient to add enough

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