Canadian Airlines is waiting only to choose an agency before it begins an aggressive new positioning strategy that it expects will set a new standard for airline marketing in Canada.

The airline has narrowed the list of contenders for its $20 million assignment to four: bcp Strategy-Creativity of Montreal and Toronto firms, Gee Jeffery & Partners, Ogilvy & Mather, and Vickers & Benson.

Gregg Saretsky, vice-president of passenger service marketing, says the airline will be much more aggressive in the marketplace and that will be reflected in all of Canadian’s external communications.

‘We are recreating ourselves as an airline,’ says Saretsky.

‘We have a lot of new product and we’re trying to be a lot more aggressive with respect to pricing initiatives that will align consumers more closely with Canadians.’

He says this new strategy should provide some interesting advertising and reading this year, with the consumer being the ultimate winner.

‘My objective this year is to keep Air Canada reacting to everything we do.

‘That will be a big change in terms of how the two carriers are positioning themselves with consumers,’ says Saretsky.

‘Being the second carrier in Canada, we have in the past been forced to be reactive to things Air Canada is doing.

‘We’re going to break that pattern this year.’

The next new initiative from the Canadian will begin early this month. Saretsky says it will be unveiled with a campaign from bcp, the shortlisted agency that launched Canadian’s Shuttletime business shuttle service in late January.

Rival Air Canada countered the campaign a week later with one of its own from Montreal-based Marketel for its Rapidair service.

‘Air Canada has not advertised Rapidair in the east for four years, so the fact they have delights me,’ says Saretsky.

‘They legitimized our product and gave credit to bcp in so doing, because they felt the need to respond after four years of doing nothing.’

Saretsky says the Shuttletime/ Rapidair battle illustrates why Canadian feels its advertising and marketing should be more retail focused and responsive.

He says dealing with marketing efforts regionally could be beneficial in dealing with competition in individual markets.

‘We’re taking steps there as well in that we’ve just moved our North American sales division to Toronto from Calgary.

‘We’ve now got a group of employees on the ground responsible for Canadian Airlines sales right in the heart of central Canada.’

There has been talk in the advertising industry that this new airline battle has Air Canada looking at reviewing its account, currently with Marketel, and considering regionalizing its marketing activities.

Kym Robertson, Air Canada manager of corporate communications, dismisses the idea as a rumor but does not deny it.