It has been a difficult couple of years for the aviation industry as profits were hit by rising fuel and duty costs. This loss of profits was also exasperated by the freezing temperatures during the winter and the impact of the Icelandic volcanic eruption. Both grounded flights throughout Europe and left compensation claims soaring. Luton based easyJet is no exception having just posted pre-tax losses of £153m, up from £79m a year earlier, for the 6 months to 31st March. Trying to counteract this easyJet has set plans in motion to accelerate its search for partners to provide marketing support such as its recently signed agreement with Nectar. These marketing partnerships are invaluable to easyJet as they increase awareness of its offerings and promote brand engagement. In the results statement, the company says it is "in negotiations across Europe to secure further agreement to generate additional marketing support".

EasyJet’s early marketing strategy consisted of no more than its telephone booking number painted onto the side of its aircraft. The aim was to cut out the travel agent and make ‘flying as affordable as a pair of jeans’. One way that easyJet maximised exposure in the early days was by allowing a TV series to be made which reflected the day to day running of the airline. LWT created and filmed Airline between 1999 and 2007 and help to make easyJet a household name. Although the series did not always portray easyJet in a good light it did much to promote the airline in this time.

Since easyJet was established in 1995 it has used slogans that represent its colourful image. "Come on, lets fly!" is easyJet’s latest offering along with "the web’s favourite airline" which reflects the fact that easyjet.com is currently the UK’s most used travel website boasting over 325million visitors every year. In order to build on this further the airline has recently announced the appointment of Peter Duffy as its Marketing Director. Coming across from Audi UK Peter brings with him an impressive track record having overseen its many brand successes over the last few years. After filling this highly sort after Marketing Director job Carolyn McCall, easyJet’s chief executive, said, " I am delighted that Peter will be joining the team here as our Marketing Director. His depth and breadth will be invaluable and he has particular experience in customer insight and the use of CRM which will add real value to our business". Carolyn continued, "EasyJet is a great brand and there is significant opportunity to build the brand in our core European markets, making easyJet Europe’s leading short haul carrier".