When discussing the airline to take when traveling to Russia, the name Aeroflot would always be the first choice. But with the break up of the former Soviet Union, Aeroflot found themselves on the brink of decreasing profit from rival companies. The adjustment from super monopoly in its market to falling far behind private Russian airline Transaero placed them in a search for market share. Aeroflot was stuck in a jam looking for the right mix to bring them back to the front line of Russian air transportation.
             Aeroflot's attempt to become a world-class airline has been hampered by a poor safety record, bad food, surly service, dilapidated cabins and frequently canceled or late flights. This did not hurt them when they where the only airline in its market, but when competition comes in, things begin to change. It is known that competition can only help the customers as this forces both companies to continue to improve to gain market share. Another problem with Aeroflot is that paid customers had occupied only 60% of their seats on flights.
             The next step for Aeroflot was to research and develop which marketing mix would help bring them back to an international airline. With some major problems involving customer service and overall product service to the consumers, Aeroflot searched for the right way to bring back their name to the market. The image the airline has selected for itself in its advertising campaign attempts to convince skeptical consumers that the airline has solved its safety and service problems. The campaign uses magazine, billboard and TV commercials, and features a flying elephant with a slogan that translates into "light on its feet." The not so subtle message means that if elephants can fly, so can Aeroflot (http://www.aeroflot.org).
             The meaning behind that advertising campaign using the elephant as the company symbol showed that something big like an airplane could fly freely in the sky. "Lig...