Adgully Exclusive | Pratik Mazumder's exciting yatra

Yatra.com recently launched a campaign designed expressly to strengthen ties with India's youth ” the majority of the site's customers fall in the age group of 21-30 years. Indeed, Indian GenNext is connected to the wired universe of commerce and lifestyle as securely as its peers in the richest of countries, a fact that is not lost on Pratik Mazumder, Yatra's head of marketing and strategic alliances. In an exclusive interaction with Adgully, Mazumder spoke about his company's plans and India's swiftly growing e-market.

When Mazumder embarked on his Yatra journey, he already had 15 years of experience in marketing. His expertise is primed for such areas as brand, product management, and marketing communications. Adgully began by asking Mazumder about Yatra's current strategies. "Acquisition and retention strategies are being followed simultaneously," he said. "The idea is to acquire customers at the lowest cost through various channels ” both online and offline ” and then to retain them for life, maximising revenue through repeat and multi-product cross-selling."

Mazumder said one of the latest initiatives of the company was to extend a popular offering called 3G (Ghar, Gaadi Aur Guaranteed Gifts). "Book an air ticket, holiday or hotel, and get two domestic air tickets free and a chance to win a house and a car," Mazumder explained. Besides, Yatra has also rolled out "Dus Ka Dum' by which a customer who books an international air ticket gets 10 domestic air tickets free. Further, the Yatra travel card is also being promoted as an instrument that provides various discounts on travel.

Earlier, under the 3G offer, one free ticket was given away. But "the superlative response received by the customers" led to an upgrade in the offer, a statement from Yatra said. The offered guarantees customers a chance to win gifts worth Rs 5 crore, including a Mahindra's Xylo car, and a brand new home for two lucky winners (picked in a draw) at the end of the campaign.

Since last year Yatra has been exploring changes, and Adgully asked Mazumder if there had been any research behind the exercise. "Yes, Yatra has highest brand and advertising recall among all online travel portals," Mazumder said. "But there was a need to position Yatra as the best deal- and value-offering brand."

Mazumder is uniquely qualified for such a brand-retooling drive. During the seven years he served Bharti Airtel, he was an important part of the brains trust that envisioned highly successful marketing campaigns. At Bharti Airtel, Mazumder headed the brand and communication team from January 2002 to November 2007. He then assumed charge as the marketing head for the Karnataka circle. Mazumder, who was the director of Trojan Horse ” a boutique marketing and brand consultancy firm ” before joining Yatra, has also worked for OgilvyOne Worldwide and Enterprise Nexus Direct.

One of the most significant awards that Mazumder has won ” and he has earned many honours” is the Cannes Gold in the Lions Direct category.

Returning to the subject of Yatra, Adgully asked him about the site's tie-up with Tyroo. "Since the tie-up was settled, there has been an increase in revenue because of Tyroo's expertise in selling ad space and adding value to their customers," said Mazumder, who holds a post-graduate diploma in advertising and communications from the Clarion College of Communication, Kolkata. He also has a bachelor's degree in commerce. He graduated from St Xavier's College, Kolkata.

As for Yatra, one of its exciting plans involves the mobile platform. "We have tied up with Sony Ericsson for a pre-embedded application in the handset as well as for the re-launch of our WAP portal," Mazumder said.

While discussing Yatra's image makeover ” which Mazumder says was effected to keep the "brand young, refreshing and relevant to customers" ” conversation veered to Boman Irani, who was brought on board as the face of the site. Adgully wondered how the industry had changed since then. "When Boman Irani was signed, the brand was in its infancy and there was a need to create an instant brand awareness, which we did successfully," Mazumder said.

Today, Yatra gives customers access to the best travel deals across a myriad of national and international destinations. It is one of the largest consolidators of hotels in India, providing the room-booking facility in over 2,500 domestic hotels across 250 destinations in India. Yatra also has international tie-ups with major consolidators for over 90,000 hotels across the world. The prices are highly competitive and booking rates are available at the lowest rates in real time. Yatra provides hundreds of holiday packages to its customers that include best deals and rates across the globe.

In past, Yatra has introduced several innovative initiatives, which gave a new dimension to the online travel industry including cash on delivery, compensation on flight delays and baggage loss, free visa assistance. Recently it launched Yatra Promise, which is assures customers a host of offers such as guaranteed low price, assured refund, zero cancellation fee and secured transactions.

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