Virgin Atlantic is branding the ice cubes in its Upper Class cabin… by carving them in the shape of Richard Branson’s head.
May 1st, 2012 \ Link
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Airline mergers are ugly. With a capital Ugh. Seniority lists need to be mashed together. Incompatible fleets need to be made compatible. Executive vice presidencies need to be redistributed. The fears of frequent fliers need to be assuaged.
And through it all, the advertising needs to stay bright and cheerful. Nothing to see here, folks. Look at how super happy all those employees are to be working together!
No, you can’t blame advertising for putting a happy face on an ugly merger. But this is just painful.
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April 25th, 2012 \ Posted in Jingles \ No Comments »
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Today Pan Am is remembered as a luxury airline, largely by people who never flew it. But it was also an inclusive airline. Most of its advertising campaigns weren’t aimed at the international jetset—they were aimed at getting ordinary Americans to fly overseas, often for the first time.
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April 17th, 2012 \ Posted in Jingles \ No Comments »
I love it when advertisers take the gloves off: Southwest and Delta are “duking it out” in Atlanta. This ought to be interesting…
April 17th, 2012 \ Link
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This campaign is notorious in the annals of advertising—right up there with the Pacific Air Lines campaign from Stan Freberg that allegedly drove the airline into bankruptcy. Neither campaign was quite as disastrous as the lore now suggests. In fact, this one may have been a big success.
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April 15th, 2012 \ Posted in Jingles \ No Comments »
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Gawrsh, running an airline sure hurts your noggin. So many things to remember. Smile at the passengers, clean the lavatory, put down the landing gear… who could blame ya for goofin’ up sometimes? Aw-hyuck!
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April 15th, 2012 \ Posted in Jingles \ No Comments »
For the UK premiere of this season of Mad Men, American Airlines ran a classic ad from 1968 from DDB’s “Fly the American Way” campaign. It was a fun idea. Too bad not many people saw it.
April 14th, 2012 \ Link
The smart money says American Airlines will merge with another airline before it emerges from bankruptcy protection. Right now, US Airways seems like the most likely suitor, but Delta is reportedly also considering its options.
Of course, one of the main issues in any merger is what the combined company will be called. As with everything in the airline business, egos get involved. Often the merged carrier takes on the name of the party in the strongest financial position—but not always. US Airways was technically acquired by America West Airlines in 2005, but the combined carrier kept the US Airways name anyway.
And so I open the floor to rampant speculation: will the name “American Airlines” survive a merger? Or is its 78-year history near its end? Some of the merger match-ups after the jump are plausible. Some are patently ridiculous. But when it comes to naming, they all raise interesting questions.
Vote in the polls below, then explain your reasoning in the comments!
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April 9th, 2012 \ Posted in Naming \ No Comments »
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This jingle, cute but unremembered, is a testament to a maturing industry.
It is a symbol, in fact, of a whole genre of airline advertising that barely exists anymore. This genre didn’t say much about fares, or onboard service, or frequent flier programs. Instead, it sold the joy of travel to a public that wasn’t yet used to travelling.
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April 4th, 2012 \ Posted in Jingles \ No Comments »
There’s a major shift going on at Germany’s largest airline, and it goes far beyond a new advertising agency.
This month, Lufthansa launched a new advertising campaign with the tagline “Nonstop you.” It’s the first new campaign from Kolle Rebbe, Hamburg, which won the business from McCann Berlin last year. And it seems to signal a very different Lufthansa.
The first television commercial, starring three adorable owls, is after the jump.
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April 2nd, 2012 \ Posted in Advertising \ No Comments »
