How India’s travel site Cleartrip is positioning the brand for takeoff

It's a highly competitive market that is dominated by price-led promotions and discount wars. Against this backdrop, Cleartrip plans to establish its unique brand positioning to drive growth in the post-pandemic world.

The 15-year-old company has received a new lease on life after being acquired by India's dominant e-commerce player Flipkart in 2021. The combination of new ownership and Cleartrip's start-up ambition and go-to-market strategy is creating an exciting phase for the business.

The Cleartrip journey over the years

Historically Cleartrip was well-recognized for its pre-booking experience on the back of its Indian e-commerce player Flipkart while deciding to acquire the company.

Last few months, the brand has been busy putting together its 2.0 version with a clear plan. Shares Kunal Dubey, chief marketing officer of Cleartrip, “We want to be the brand that will help solve the traveler’s problems around uncertainty, anxiety and procrastination backed by simplicity and customer service offerings.”

The brand with the 15-year legacy has decided to actively challenge everything that the category has been known for the last few years, adds Dubey.

Accordingly, the brand went in for a refresh and rebranding a few months ago with many new features launched. It also recruited famous Bollywood stars Vicky Kaushal and Katrina Kaif as brand ambassadors in their first endorsement together as a couple since they got married in 2021.

Demystifying Indian traveler and the OTA evolution

Till about 2010, travel in India was predominantly an offline-driven category. It was post-2010 that online penetration changed how people booked their travel plans.

Explains Ayyappan R, chief executive officer, Cleartrip, “Travel as a category is very complex as it has many sub-travel segments such as flight, hotel, cab, packages, tours and activities – and each of these subcategories exists at different levels of the online adoption curve.” In terms of online adoption, air and train are leading the category, followed by hotels, he adds.

The post-pandemic journey for the travel brand

While Cleartrip had been around for over a decade before the pandemic hit, post the acquisition, the brand had the opportunity to look at the positioning afresh. Shares Dubey: “We looked at every aspect from a fresh lens – be it the purpose, business model, spending philosophy, brand stance, the market you want to serve, etc – and decided to challenge the status quo.” This included redefining the brand purpose as ‘enabling every travel dream into a reality’.

Adds Dubey, “It also included not going to be the platform that fought the price battle since all OTA players were only focused on offering the best discounts.”

Cleartrip’s itinerary to solve the traveller challenges

In a service industry like travel, it is not just the post-purchase that is important, but even the booking experience is critical. There can be several reasons why a trip can break or turn sour, and the travel agency must be ready to handle all of them. The travel industry needs this magical genie, says Ayyappan and recognizing this critical need, we have invested heavily in setting a benchmark for customer experience.

“We want to be the most innovative brand in the OTA space”, he says, and that ambition is being put to action with many new offerings and customer-focused initiatives.

Flexibility, especially for the post-pandemic consumer, has become a significant paradigm shift. Being able to navigate the unknown challenges (flight cancelations, hotel booking changes, etc.) always weighs heavy on the traveler’s shoulder while planning any itinerary and often becomes the chief deterrent. The brand addresses these core practical problems of a customer with category-first initiatives like CT Flex (USP - 24-hour refund) and CT FlexMax. Alongside, features like seat selection and meal options on the air tickets on an additional payment and no-cost EMI have been launched to increase penetration.

In addition, hotels as a business were relaunched to bring the focus back on this high-potential category since it was earlier not too big for Cleartrip, Ayyappan shares.

The evolving marketing playbook

In its 2.0 avatar of a challenger travel brand, Cleartrip took it upon itself to speak to the consumer differently, in a bold manner that strikes a chord with them and helps them make better choices, shares Dubey.

The brand’s communications approach is built on being present where the audience is and in the proper context. Adds Dubey, “Many of our past campaigns have challenged cultural norms that have been created over the years.”

Its recent brand campaign, ‘Invest in travel,’ urges individuals to enjoy the benefits of its flexible and affordable offerings and integrate travel into their lives in 2023.

Recent campaign

Previous campaigns

As per the Cleartrip CEO, Ayyappan, “The future of the category will be about moving the focus from just the ‘booking’ journey of a customer lifecycle to cater to large customer segments who want to be guided on their travel discovery and planning.”