Fly the Branded Skies

 

Airline: National Airlines

These are posts from Fly the Branded Skies about National Airlines.

ICAO Code: NAL

National Airlines Wings
National Airlines Junior Pilot Wings
National Airlines Junior Stewardess Wings
National Airlines Junior Pilot Wings
National Airlines Junior Stewardess Wings
National Airlines Wings
National Airlines Wings (gold)

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.”

  Read more

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.
  Read more

Jingle: “Say Hello to Pan Am” (1980)

Say Hello to Pan Am

Listen: Pan American World Airways: “Say Hello to Pan Am”

It’s big. It’s brassy. It’s got pizzaz coming out of its ears. It’s “Say Hello to Pan Am”: the theme song to the most disastrous merger in airline history.
  Read more

Jingle: Singapore: “Singapore Girl Theme” (1973)


Listen: Singapore Airlines: “Singapore Girl Theme”

This must be the longest-running campaign in the airline category. Indeed, it may be one of the longest-running campaigns in advertising, period. The Singapore Girl campaign is now more than 40 years old. Think of it this way: the first Singapore Girls are now in their 60s.
  Read more

Tropes: Graduation Day

Every kind of advertising has—well, let’s call them “conventions.” Airline advertising is no different. This is part of a series of posts on the clichés of airline advertising.

This may not be a pervasive trope, but over the years it has popped up often enough to make for some interesting comparisons: stewardesses graduating from training. These four spots, spanning four decades, tell a lot both about how flight attendants are portrayed in advertising and how they’re seen by society at large.

Let’s start in the late 1960s.

  Read more

Jingle: National Airlines “Watch Us Shine” (1977)

National Airlines: Watch Us Shine

Listen: National Airlines: “Watch Us Shine”

If there’s one thing airline jingles are selling, it’s pride.

Most jingles, I think, evince a grandeur disproportionate to their subjects. But the songs of airline advertising are not mere jingles. They are anthems worthy of companies that dare slip the surly bonds of earth and touch the face of God.

Whether this is a good way to sell tickets is another question.

  Read more

Tropes: Sex

Every kind of advertising has—well, let’s call them “conventions.” Airline advertising is no different. This is part of a series of posts on the clichés of airline advertising.

Last month, the Flight Attendants Association of Australia vowed to take the Russian airline AviaNova to the International Transport Federation over an ad the low-cost carrier recently produced. The ad depicts the airline’s unusual (and, let’s be honest, pretty inefficient) method for washing its planes. In a shameless play for more visitors, I include that video below:

  Read more

Zombies!

Pan Am Systems freight carAn investor group announced in March that it has acquired the trademarks for Eastern Airlines and plans to launch a new carrier with that name.

But before they do, they may want to consider what happened to Pan Am. Because after 64 years, the storied Pan Am brand ended up not in the skies but on the rails.

The brand was sold off after the original Pan Am’s bankruptcy in 1991. In 1996, the blue Pan Am globe was flying once again on a single A300 christened the Clipper Fair Wind. But the second Pan Am didn’t last long; after a star-crossed merger with Carnival Air Lines, another Pan Am followed the first into bankruptcy.   Read more