There’s something great about this old Super 8 footage of airplanes taxiing and taking off at La Guardia in the 1970s. It features a great many now-defunct airlines in their prime.
Archive for July, 2010
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Thursday, July 29th, 2010URL
Thursday, July 29th, 2010Virgin Atlantic has unveiled a new livery. It’s attractive but nothing revolutionary, and the Virgin script logo remains unchanged. The main difference may be the paint, which apparently has a unique metallic finish which could look very striking. I’m not convinced by the new typography, though. To me, thin, lowercase serifs communicate low-cost, like private-label brands at the grocery store, not pampered luxury. The press release is worth reading if for no other reason than it will probably be the only time you will ever hear an airline described as a “tonic for the soul.”
Tropes: The Singing Jumbo Jet
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010Every 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.
There’s an old joke that, when faced with creating advertising, the British crack a joke, the French get naked, and Americans sing.
If that introduction got your hopes up that this post would be full of jokes, or, even better, naked people, I’m sorry to disappoint. No, this post is about singing—something airlines used to do it a lot.
Today, a song in a commercial is far more likely to be licensed than commissioned. But there was a time when jingles were very popular, and no category used them more often than airlines. In fact, airlines may have elevated the jingle to its greatest heights. This one (by Leo Burnett / song credits) is liable to get stuck in your head:
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Tuesday, July 27th, 2010My favourite anecdote from Airlines for the Rest of Us, a self-published book about U.S. local airlines by Stan Solomon: Ozark Air Lines purchased its first DC-3s from Parks Airlines. To get the planes up in the air as quickly as possible, workers painted out the P and the S from “PARKS” and added “OZ” to the beginning. By accident, one of the planes was painted with the name “OARK AIRLINES.” The management of the fledgling carrier decided to leave it as it was for several months to prove to the public that the airline owned more than one airplane.
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Wednesday, July 14th, 2010Sadly Branded Skies launched a couple months too late to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Trans Global Airlines. Congratulations! And remind me to send a thank-you note to Mr. Boeing.
Branded Skies goes to Cannes
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010
No, not literally, unfortunately. But for someone interested in airline branding, there wasn’t really that much to see at Cannes this year anyway. Mary Wells, famous for branding Braniff Airlines, once said that hard times call for hard selling, and last year’s times were very hard indeed for the airline industry.
Unfortunately, Cannes Lions are rarely given out for 1/8-page newspaper ads announcing seat sales.
There were, however, some winners—or, really, three: Norwegian Airlines, which won a bronze outdoor Lion for its cute “Last one to leave please turn out the lights” bus shelter, Germanwings, which won a bronze Film Lion for a gutsy and hilarious spot that I’ve embeded below, and Virgin, which won all the rest. (more…)
Wingwalkers
Sunday, July 11th, 2010
There’s an old joke that a town too small to support one lawyer is still big enough to support two. Canada is a small country that, historically at least, has been able to support two airlines: Air Canada on one side, and a variety of challengers over the years on the other.
The difference between this brand duopoly and, say, Coke and Pepsi, is that in Canada there has always been a subtle political dimension to airline branding.
Air Canada, the erstwhile Crown corporation, is the flying symbol of the central Canadian establishment. Its branding is sedate; its flashiest advertising so far featured a song by Celine Dion, an approved Canadian choice. Its headquarters are in Montreal. If Canada’s natural governing party had a natural governing airline, Air Canada would be it. Its symbol is a maple leaf; it is, after all, the flag carrier. (more…)