Fly the Branded Skies

 

Airline: United Airlines

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

ICAO Code: UAL

United Airlines Future Pilot Wings
United Airlines Jr. Stewardess Wings
United Airlines Junior Stewardess Wings
United Airlines Wings
United Airlines Arlene Airess Junior Stewardess Club Wings
United Airlines Future Pilot Wings
United Airlines Jr. Stewardess Wings
United Airlines Junior Flight Stewardess Wings
United Airlines Future Pilot Wings
United Airlines Jr. Stewardess Wings
United Airlines Junior Stewardess Wings
United Airlines Future Pilot Wings
United Airlines Future Pilot Wings
United Airlines Future Stewardess Wings
United Airlines Future Stewardess Wings
United Airlines Future Stewardess Wings
United Airlines Junior Stewardess Wings
United Airlines Wings
United Airlines Future Flight Attendant Wings
United Airlines Future Pilot Wings
United Airlines Future Stewardess Wings
United Airlines Future Flight Attendant Wings
United Airlines Future Pilot Wings
United Airlines Wings
United Airlines Wings
United Airlines Mystery Tiki Wings
United Airlines Wings
United Airlines Wings
United Airlines Wings
United Airlines Wings

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:  October 1st, 2013

The Work This Week: October 1st, 2013

Welcome to the 17th issue of The Work This Week, a weekly roundup of new advertising, identity, and brand experience work from around the airline industry. This week, jetBlue airs on the side of humanity, Thomas Cook grows a heart, and Air France redesigns its cabins for the rest of us.
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Flyby Wire:  September 22nd, 2013

Welcome to the 16th issue of The Work This Week, a weekly roundup of new advertising, identity, and brand experience work from around the airline industry. This week, the friendly skies are back.
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Flyby Wire:  June 30th, 2013

Welcome to the seventh issue of The Work This Week, a weekly roundup of new advertising, identity, and brand experience work from around the airline industry. This week, American Airlines gets animated, KLM makes a game out of the airline business, and the airline formerly known as Fiji Airways is now currently known as Fiji Airways.
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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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Flight 1

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.
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Flyby Wire:  May 26th, 2013

Welcome to the second issue of The Work This Week, a weekly roundup of new advertising, identity, and brand experience work from around the airline industry. This week, design flies with Finnair, art flies with airBaltic, and aspiring pilots fly with Alitalia… sort of.
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Jingle: United “Mother Country” (1973)

The friendly skies of your land. United Air Lines

Listen: United Air Lines: “Mother Country”

A confession: I actually like a lot of the jingles I write about. Not even in an ironic, hipster sort of way either. Some of them are admittedly guilty pleasures (like TWA’s 80s power ballad Leading the Way — still desperately trying to find that one on vinyl, by the way) but others I think are legitimately great songs. And of those, “Mother Country” is my favourite.

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Jingle: United “Ballad of the Boss” (1976)

You're the boss.

Listen: United Air Lines: “Ballad of the Boss”

There’s a reason why Leo Burnett was United’s advertising agency for more than thirty years. It has to do with Burnett’s trademark style: Warm. Folksy. Midwestern. Sometimes a bit schmaltzy. But always human. For a long time, that style fit United’s brand perfectly. The result was some of the most memorable airline advertising of the last century.

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Airlines at the 2012 Games

British Airways Firefly livery for the 2012 Olympics

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