South African LCC Kulula have recently released this new aircraft livery on one of its new 737-800s (registration ZS-ZWP) entitled “Flying 101″. Various sections of the unusually unique lime fuselage are labelled with captions – essentially providing a comic insight into the features of an airliner.
The design work was apparently completed in-house by Kulula, and the advertising and public relations was handled by both King James and Atmosphere of Cape Town.
The pics were released to key bloggers well before the aircraft set foot on South African soil for the purpose of encouraging a viral campaign on the web; and it seems to be overwhelmingly successful. Could it have been handled better? Sure! It was the 8th of February before the company released a press release despite huge amounts of online activity. There’s still no direct link on the main page of the website to the press release or images despite the overwhelming attention by bloggers and traditional media. The media focus is one that was potentially quite transient and I’m not sure Kulula embraced the potentially short-lived marketing opportunity as they could have.
Kulula Airlines "Flying 101" Boeing 737-800
Kulula aircraft are quite unique because they are all painted in their very own paint schemes. Paint schemes include; the ‘cow’, ‘camo’ and ‘the jetsetter’. There’s talk that the second Boeing 737 is currently undergoing its transformation into an oversized container box, with the words ‘this way up’ printed on its side.
The recognition of unique paintjobs by the traveling public is one that probably deserves scientific investigation by way of online surveys both now and in the future. It will be interesting to determine if the short-lived viral interest in the company justifies the potential loss of any true brand awareness.
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Marty is a Grade 1 multi-engine/IFR flight instructor. He's spent most of his flying life to date in various turboprop types but is currently a Boeing 777 First Officer. Marty is also a programmer and operates a number of non-aviation businesses. You can read Marty's posts here or follow him on Twitter.
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Marty holds an airline transport (fixed-wing) licence, commercial (helicopter) licence and has also indulged in hang gliding, gliding and skydiving. He is a grade one flight instructor and holds instrument/multi engine training approvals. Marty is currently a Boeing 777 First Officer and CRM facilitator. 
Ken flew the Boeing 747-400 with Cathay Pacific, Airbus 310 with Emirates, and flew the Boeing 777 200/300 with Emirates for 10 years as a training captain. Ken is now a Check and Training on the Boeing 777-300ER with V Australia.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Marty, the livery on that plane is hilarious!
I do wonder if the loss of branding will affect them but I also wonder whether their humorous designs will become their brand and create a completely new talking point that could last for years.
The key, of course, will be to make sure that their customer service and safety record is outstanding otherwise their uniqueness will be used against them to make them the “laughing stock” of the aviation community for all the wrong reasons.
Mike