Aisle style: Kingfisher flight attendants on the ramp

Calcutta, Jan. 20: Style (read pretty young things) and a unique selling proposition (read in-flight entertainment) is the success strategy in the skies for Vijay Mallya.

The United Breweries chairman landed on the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta campus this afternoon to do a “colloquia” — campus lingo for taking the students through his experiences of setting up one of India’s biggest business conglomerates.

From the birth of brand Kingfisher to the company’s spirited entry into aviation, Mallya discussed the most significant developments of his life with the budding managers. His mantra for success — “raise the bar”.

“Examination marks don’t matter. What you need to do is be creative in your field. Push yourself… increase the limit. What you need to do is raise the bar,” said the liquor baron.

That is what Mallya apparently did every time he had to beat competition. He delayed the launch of Kingfisher Airlines by seven months to do what no other airline had done in India, provide in-flight entertainment to every passenger.

When Jet Airways “redefined in-flight entertainment”, Mallya “raised the bar” again — Kingfisher will provide live television on board from January 23.

He identified dynamism as the key ingredient of a successful brand. “We infused lifestyle elements like music and fashion into the Kingfisher brand, elements that will always appeal to the youth, and made it dynamic and timeless,” he said in the packed lecture hall.

Questions posed by students ranged from his future plans to his guru, Shri Shri Ravi Shankar.

The hour-long talk organised by Colloquia, a student-run body, was a hit.

“It was inspirational and enlightening. The best part was he did it the Vijay Mallya way, throwing in anecdotes which had us in splits,” said Anirban Paul, a first-year student.