There’s one facet of airline branding that’s subtle, yet intensely symbolic. And best of all, it doesn’t cost a thing. It’s the flight number.
In the age of rail, railroads often reserved lower numbers for their most prestigious trains. By the jet age, Pan Am used “flight 1″ for its fabled round-the-world service (flight 2 flew the same route, but in the opposite direction.) The flight an airline designates as “flight 1″ has powerful meaning. It may reflect the airline’s history (as in the cases of Southwest, JetBlue, and American.) Or it might reflect present priorities (as for Air Canada.) Sometimes flight 1 can give you a deep insight into an airline’s soul. And sometimes not. Read more
Welcome to the first issue of The Work This Week, a weekly roundup of new advertising, identity, and brand experience work from around the airline industry. On TWTW‘s maiden flight, we dissect what it means to be British with British Airways, burn calories for air miles with airBaltic, and rediscover the joy of reading with Qantas. Read more
The Summer Olympics kicked off in London on Friday, so it’s time for Fly the Branded Skies to celebrate the true meaning of the Olympic spirit: corporate sponsorship. Here’s what some of the airlines sponsoring the games are up to. I’ll update this post as I find more. Read more
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.
For many years, from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, “Fly the Flag” was British Airways’ exhortation to travellers to do the patriotic thing: fly the state-owned carrier, the one with the Union Jack on the tail of all its aircraft.
Yet the jingle was commissioned by an American agency in London. Written by an American songwriter. Sung by what, to my ears, sound like American studio singers.
In short, British Airways may be British. But its jingle was 100% American.
What if baggage handling were an Olympic event? That’s what British Airways asks in this follow-up to last year’s Aviators commercial. Apparently, in this Olympic year, BA promises to ensure that British bags always hit the carousel first. Update (Feb. 9, 2012): It didn’t hit me until half an hour later, but isn’t it bizarre that this spot features no Olympic branding even though British Airways paid £40 million to sponsor the games?
In a little under 4 days and 16 hours, if British Airways’ Facebook page is to be believed, the airline will launch a new television spot to follow up on last year’s “Aviators.” Will it be as spectacular as the original? We’ll see…
It’s been about a month now since British Airways dropped this spot, but it has such an epic quality that I think I can still post it. The spot is actually running on broadcast television, at least in New York, leading to the strange experience of seeing two spots for two different major airlines (BA and Delta) in the same hour of television. It’s been many, many years since that was a common occurrence; is it possible airline ad spending is coming back? And speaking of old-school advertising, how about a campaign once again focusing on pilots?
Well, the Big Game is less than a week away and, like everyone else, Fly the Branded Skies is taking advantage of the buzz without all the hassle of paying a few million dollars for a sponsorship. This is an index to airline Super Bowl ads of the past 46 years. It draws extensively on Adland’s extensive archive of Super Bowl spots, with a few added in from YouTube. Read more
News leaked this week that United Airlines is polling its current and former employees on which classic livery to feature on a 757 next year. The livery will celebrate the airline’s 85th anniversary. Thanks to @GordonWerner, you can see the five options here. I don’t want to unduly influence the voting, but the Mainliner colours sure look sharp…
When United’s “retrojet” takes to the skies, it will join dozens of other airplanes painted in the bygone colours of dozens of different airlines. It seems almost every airline has a retrojet these days. The trend started ten years ago, and is only gaining momentum. Read more
There’s a major shift going on at Germany’s largest airline, and it goes far beyond a new advertising agency.
