Maharaja, the much-celebrated mascot of Air India, is now in his late-seventies and faces retirement — or a possible rebirth.
Designed in 1946, when Bobby Kooka, Air India‘s Commercial Director, and Umesh Rao, an artist with advertising agency J.Walter Thompson, together created the brand icon. Those were the times when flying was an ultra-luxury experience and mostly very rich people and celebrities travelled by air. Air India wasn’t what it became after the government takeover and decades of mishandling and corruption. In those days, AIr India was one of the finest in the world, and it got the icon it deserved, the Maharaja, because India in those days was seen as a country of maharajas. But over time, the mascot proved to be very versatile — humble, funny and even naughty.
The Maharaja’s uncertain future
But will the Maharaja be able to reinvent itself even as its airline, Air India, is now getting a makeover after it returned to its original owner, the Tata Group, two years ago? The Tatas have entrusted Prasoon Joshi-headed McCann Worldgroup India with reviving Air India’s once iconic advertising and branding, TOI has reported. Itt will develop a new brand platform and a range of multi-channel marketing communication. Will the Maharaja continue to feature in campaigns like in the past?
“We are on the planning stage, the drawing board. All I can say is that exciting times are ahead for AI” and its guests,” Joshi said.
However, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson had said in February that the Maharaja will remain part of the brand after the mega makeover the airline is undergoing.
Last year in December, the Tata Group roped in London-based brand and design consultancy firm Futurebrands to redraw Air India’s branding strategy. Among multiple strategies being considered was creating a new mascot for the airline as there was a thought that the Maharajah had become outdated. Air India is currently not using the Maharajah logo in its campaigns of new destination launches.
ET had reported that there will be multiple rounds of discussions based on the consultant’s report before the final decision was taken, but there is definitely a requirement to refurbish the image in a modern world where Air India intends to compete with the likes of Emirates.
When the Maharaja turned an aam aadmi
The Maharajah, an iconic portly figure in regal garb and hands folded in namaskar, was reinvented in 2015. Passengers were welcomed by a new and younger version of the mascot, sans turban and with spiky hair, wearing jeans and sneakers. While the trademark twirly moustache remained, it was cut down to size.
In his first meeting with aviation ministry officials in June 2014 — less than a month after taking office — Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the aam aadmi must replace the Maharaja as the mascot of Indian aviation, TOI had reported. It came on the back of his emphasis that the ministry formulated policies to make flying within the reach of the common man and not limited only to the rich.
Since Air India had become synonymous with the Maharaja and he could not be retired, it decided to tweak his image to make it more in tune with the changed times. “The new Maharaja is aligned with the modern times and with the new AI which is also trying to cut flab to become a lean commercial entity. The Maharaja now has a leaner, young, sporty and more dynamic look. He has made a big comeback in our ad campaigns,” an official had told ET.
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The Maharaja and the power of nostalgia
Though the Maharaja appears outdated as a mascot, one can’t ignore the power of nostalgia, especially in the case of Air India, a brand once known for its quality service. The Maharaja evokes that quality, even though it looks like a misfit in an era when flying is no longer a royal experience and is accessible to common people. New customers demand efficiency more than luxury and frills.
Interestingly, the Maharaja was never supposed to be royal, its designer Kooka had said. “We call him a Maharajah for want of a better description. But his blood isn’t blue. He may look like royalty, but he isn’t royal.”
The Maharaja began merely as a rich Indian potentate, symbolizing graciousness and high living. And somewhere along the line his creators gave him a distinctive personality: his outsized moustache, the striped turban and his aquiline nose, the Air India website had explained. “He can be a lover boy in Paris, a sumo wrestler in Tokyo, a pavement artist, a Red Indian, a monk… he can effortlessly flirt with the beauties of the world. And most importantly, he can get away with it all. Simply because he is the Maharaja,” Kooka had said.
The Air India brand can be revived and embedded in public consciousness if its new owners can establish a nostalgic connect while sprucing up the product, brand experts had told ET two years ago, right after Air India was sold to the Tata Group.
Michael Mascarenhas, the airline’s marketing frontman for three decades and its managing director in 2001, had told ET that “no other airline has ever had a mascot like this.” The Maharaja was an inspired choice, he said. “It came by sheer chance and it was adapted brilliantly. When you wanted to promote skiing by promoting Switzerland as a destination, you showed the Maharaja skiing. When you wanted to promote Rome, you showed him with a priest, having a loaf of bread in his hand on a Lambretta,” he had said.
“The Maharaja is more relevant than ever, especially because in this utilitarian environment, people crave nostalgia. I hope the Tatas can revive it, just like they should Air India.” Agnello Dias, co-founder of Taproot Dentsu, had told ET at that time.
