Fly the Branded Skies

 

Airline: Delta Air Lines

These are posts from Fly the Branded Skies about Delta Air Lines.

ICAO Code: DAL

Delta Air Lines Jr. Captain Wings
Delta Air Lines Junior Stewardess Wings
Delta Air Lines Junior Stewardess Wings
Delta Air Lines Jr. Captain Wings
Delta Air Lines Jr. Stewardess Wings
Delta Air Lines Junior Captain Wings
Delta Air Lines Junior Stewardess Wings
Delta Air Lines Jr. Stewardess Wings
Delta Air Lines Junior Captain Wings
Delta Air Lines Wings
Delta Air Lines Wings
Delta Air Lines Wings
Delta Air Lines Wings
Delta Air Lines Wings (gold)

Another year, another booze-fueled, scandal-plagued ego trip on the French riviera. If that sounds harsh, perhaps it is. It’s easier to forgive the excesses of Cannes when they’re accompanied by inspiring work. Unfortunately, this year was a bit of a dud.

Few airline industry campaigns were awarded, and many of those that did pick up Lions are retreads of previous years’ campaigns. Last year, airlines took eight Silver and 15 Bronze Lions, already a far cry from the heights of 2014. This year, it was just four Silver and five Bronze, with most of those in lesser categories.

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Last year, airlines had a spectacular showing at the Cannes Lions, with a Grand Prix, six Golds, eight Silvers, and eight Bronzes. Inevitably, this year’s performance (eight Silver, 15 Bronze) was not quite so lofty. But there were some strong contenders, along with the usual mix of shocking omissions and perplexing victors that really make you wonder what the hell the judges were thinking.

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Delta’s new ad missing Bill Murray

I never really appreciated the movie “Lost in Translation” until I spent two weeks on an ill-fated business trip to Dubai. Watching it again afterward, that feeling of dislocated isolation really hit home. Delta captures that same feeling in its new television spot, created by Wieden + Kennedy and masterfully directed by Martin de Thurah. The result is comparatively light on product and heavy on empathy.

Delta rebrands five classes of service

Delta Air Lines has announced a revamp of the “Delta experience” today with five different classes of service and new names to match. See if you can follow along.

The long-haul international and transcontinental premium class, which has been known as BusinessElite since Delta eliminated First Class in 1998, will now be known, in disappointingly generic fashion, as Delta One. On domestic and short-haul international routes, the premium cabin will be called First Class (it was previously sometimes called Business Class, sometimes First Class, apparently depending on the airplane.) Economy Comfort is now Delta Comfort+. Economy is now Main Cabin, just like American. The new class is Basic Economy, in which you’ll sit in the Main Cabin but get a cheaper fares in exchange for giving up the ability to change your ticket, choose your seat, or upgrade.

So from front to back, that’s Delta One, First Class, Delta Comfort+, Main Cabin, and Basic Economy. That’s a confusing mishmash of names, none of which seems to be related to any of the others. Maybe this video will help sort it all out?

Introduction

On the first Monday in March, 1961, the unthinkable struck Eastern Air Lines: a deficit. After 26 years of profits, Eastern declared a loss of $3.6 million.

The loss in 1960 marked the beginning of a decade of change at Eastern. It revealed fundamental problems from which the airline would never really recover. But it also spurred one of the most remarkable reinventions of any airline brand, ever. The changes at Eastern went far beyond a new coat of paint on its airplanes. They reflected an airline that not only portrayed itself differently, but saw itself differently.

For in just ten years, Eastern went from “bums on seats” to “the Wings of Man.”

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Flyby Wire:  November 24th, 2013

Fly By: 24 November 2013

Welcome to Flyby Wire, a weekly look at new advertising, identity, and brand experience work from around the airline industry. This week: look up! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s British Airways!   Read more

Flyby Wire:  August 4th, 2013

The Work This Week: August 4th, 2013

Editor’s Note: The Work This Week will go on a brief hiatus as I travel for work. It will return on Sunday, August 25th.

Welcome to the twelfth issue of The Work This Week, a weekly roundup of new advertising, identity, and brand experience work from around the airline industry. This week, Jat Airways flies into the history books, Virgin Australia knocks over the Eiffel Tower, and a son visits his mum in Mumbai.
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Flyby Wire:  July 28th, 2013

The Work This Week: July 28th, 2013

Welcome to the eleventh issue of The Work This Week, a weekly roundup of new advertising, identity, and brand experience work from around the airline industry. This week, airline social feeds light up with news of the royal birth, Lufthansa dupes customers into eating airline food, and the airline Web site of tomorrow is here… today!
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Flyby Wire:  June 23rd, 2013

Welcome to the sixth issue of The Work This Week, a weekly roundup of new advertising, identity, and brand experience work from around the airline industry. This week, it’s the annual Cannes issue! Who won? Who lost? Who got blackout drunk and passed out on la Croisette? It’s all here! Except for “who lost” and “who got drunk,” because we keep things classy.
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Jingle: “You’re A National Priority” (1979)

You're a National priority.

Listen: National Airlines: “You're a National Priority”

The two key pronouns in airline advertising — in all advertising, really — are “we” and “you.” Fundamentally, all advertising is a simple proposition: Here’s what we have to offer; here’s what’s in it for you. Some advertising emphasizes the “we,” some advertising emphasizes the “you,” but pretty much all of it falls somewhere on that continuum.
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