Kulula - 18th birthday

Shashank Nigam’s book ‘SOAR’ looks at eight exceptional airline brands, one of which is South African LCC Kulula.

Recently Kulula celebrated its 18th birthday, with August being designated the airline’s birthday month.

Different elements of the celebration included a birthday sale, celebrity videos congratulating Kulula on its birthday (e.g from the Titans cricket team, which signed a partnership deal with the airline), airport areas being decked out in green in honour of Kulula, and passengers being surprised with gifts and prizes on board.

However, the centre-piece of the month was a competition where fans had to show (by way of images, video etc) how they had celebrated their 18th birthday. Prizes included flight, hotel and car rental vouchers.

In tandem with its birthday month promotion, Kulula also ran a competition celebrating the role of its female employees, featuring individual staff stories. Social media fans were encouraged to share stories about women who they found inspiring, for a chance to win travel vouchers.