jag10005 From United States of America, joined Jan 2011, 4 posts, RR: 0 Posted (2 months 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 4969 times:
I thought I read somewhere that UA was searching for a new ad firm. Does anyone have an update? No national commercials? Stale CO-esque print and display ads (newspapers, bus, subways, etc.). Tired and cheap looking webpage.
A new marketing campaign would be nice...to help change the public's perception of their recent integration service issues? Even their pre-safety videos are kind of interesting but limited to customers who are already on their planes. Are they waiting to roll out a new ad campaign (until all their service issues are resolved?). Don't you think they should be touting their position as the world's leading/largest airline (by whatever metric they want to use). Or resurrect the "Fly the Friendly Skies" theme although no one at UA is currently very friendly. Delta has a national campaign that includes television spots ("It's time to fly"). Now, AA/US is a force to be reckoned with.
Legacy UA's relationship with Pentagram was so very thoughtful (see link below). I realize Pentagram has to do more with branding, but clearly legacy UA seemed to care more about image and invested more in advertising. CO historically did not invest much in advertising and quite frankly seemed more scrappy. In my opinion, it's sad to see what can be a great airline, continue with it's same tired CO-esque branding and advertising strategy.
Mir From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 19707 posts, RR: 56 Reply 1, posted (2 months 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 4944 times:
UA's corporate brand is CO's corporate brand, so it's not that surprising that they'd stick with it for all their advertising stuff.
And yes, it's incredibly stale and unimaginative - it was when CO was still CO. But that's the way they want to go, so....
Quoting jag10005 (Thread starter): Delta has a national campaign that includes television spots ("It's time to fly").
If there's one thing that Delta has done better than anyone else, it's their marketing campaign and corporate branding. Everyone else should be taking notice of that.
-Mir
7 billion, one nation, imagination...it's a beautiful day
MaverickM11 From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 15727 posts, RR: 47 Reply 2, posted (2 months 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 4900 times:
Quoting jag10005 (Thread starter): I realize Pentagram has to do more with branding, but clearly legacy UA seemed to care more about image and invested more in advertising.
I don't see how anyone could come to that conclusion. UA cared about image, for sure, but never cared about the follow through or the work required to keep up the brand promise. Planes in 3 different color schemes, half refitted planes, no consistency whatsoever, ancient clubs, bottom of the barrel DOT rankings. Sure they had beautiful commercials, who cares when the delivery was a world apart?
I can't wait until we start seeing umpteen threads about how *great* AA's service was over the last decade or two and how imaginative their advertising was and we can all hold hands and remember AA as it never was.
UALFAson From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 582 posts, RR: 4 Reply 4, posted (2 months 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 4350 times:
Quoting jag10005 (Thread starter): Delta has a national campaign that includes television spots ("It's time to fly").
Quoting Mir (Reply 1): If there's one thing that Delta has done better than anyone else, it's their marketing campaign and corporate branding. Everyone else should be taking notice of that.
Except "It's Time to Fly" was UA's tagline (as voiced by Robert Redford in their commercials) before the merger with CO. DL's current ad campaign is "Keep Climbing."
"We hope you've enjoyed flying with us as much as we've enjoyed taking you for a ride."
FWAERJ From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 3172 posts, RR: 1 Reply 5, posted (2 months 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 4293 times:
Quoting AeroWesty (Reply 3): The selection was made 18 months ago—Mcgarrybowen.
Correct. mcgarrybowen's first major work for UA was the London Olympics "Proud to fly Team USA for over 30 years" campaign, and they made a new post-Games commercial a while back (search for "Just the beginning" on YouTube). Matt Damon became the voice of UA in conjunction with the agency change (from Publicis Kaplan Thaler, the sCO agency of record since it was N.W. Ayer in the late 1990s and interim agency for UA). Thankfully, Rhapsody in Blue stayed, with a new orchestration by the London Symphony Orchestra.
Anyway, regarding a new ad campaign: Rumor was that mcgarrybowen is waiting for a major refresh of united.com (that has been delayed by UA's well-known HP Shares issues and corresponding IT problems) before launching a new major national ad campaign. Not sure if this was true or not.
VC10er From United States of America, joined Feb 2007, 2426 posts, RR: 9 Reply 6, posted (2 months 6 days ago) and read 4090 times:
There were entirely new ads shot and finished...TV, OOH, Print etc ready to go. It was killed as the computer switchover took all the oxygen. I would assume all that was done will be redone. First, John McGarry has left as has Stewart Owen who was ex Landor.
Let's all pray something happens soon that rises above the stupid pun ads from the Aflac folks.
As for image (branding) United was well on its way with the amazing Pentagram work. It died too soon and replaced by a 21+ year old, Adobe Illustrator 2 globe from CO.
IMHO: the Delta work is a giant snore.
The world is missing love, let's use our flights to spread it!
MaverickM11 From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 15727 posts, RR: 47 Reply 8, posted (2 months 5 days 21 hours ago) and read 3876 times:
Quoting VC10er (Reply 6): As for image (branding) United was well on its way with the amazing Pentagram work. It died too soon and replaced by a 21+ year old, Adobe Illustrator 2 globe from CO.
On its way to what? I think it proves conclusively that branding is of minimal importance since UA's exquisite branding translated into dreadful delivery, while CO was winning awards left and right in spite of its boring branding. And now DL has picked up the torch running an excellent operation with major improvements in product, also in spite of a brand that's 'a giant snore.'
Antoniemey From United States of America, joined Dec 2005, 1504 posts, RR: 4 Reply 9, posted (2 months 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 3713 times:
Aside from a product on a store shelf needing to catch the eye of a shopper, the most critical aspect of branding and marketing is CONSISTENCY. You can say many things about CO, good and bad, but one thing they had over a good portion of their competitors was that their product was consistent. Their image was consistent. It may have been boring, but it was consistently consistent.
Whether the new UA manages to wow ad execs with whatever future campaign is used or not, they need that image of consistency, desperately, thanks to years of the old UA being wildly inconsistent inside and out followed by all the confusion of the merger.
Make something Idiot-proof, and the Universe will make a more inept idiot.
FWAERJ From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 3172 posts, RR: 1 Reply 10, posted (2 months 5 days 7 hours ago) and read 2318 times:
Quoting VC10er (Reply 6): Let's all pray something happens soon that rises above the stupid pun ads from the Aflac folks.
Is Publicis Kaplan Thaler still doing work for UA? I thought that the UA account was now completely with mcgarrybowen.
Quoting VC10er (Reply 6): There were entirely new ads shot and finished...TV, OOH, Print etc ready to go. It was killed as the computer switchover took all the oxygen. I would assume all that was done will be redone. First, John McGarry has left as has Stewart Owen who was ex Landor.
This is not uncommon in the ad world, and there's a similar story at FWA.
FWA's ad agency (Asher Agency, which has done FWA ads for 9 of the last 12 years) was working on a major revision to the "FLY FWA" ad campaign, best known for oval bumper stickers. Their creative director planned new TV spots, local sports sponsorships, and several other things. In addition to that, Asher planned on a new ad to promote DFW nonstops that would mostly air in the DFW-free SBN market. But before the revisions to the "FLY FWA" campaign could launch, Asher's creative director that was the brains behing "FLY FWA" left Asher for CVR, an agency in IND (ironically, it also happens to be IND's ad agency). And FWA's marketing and air service director moved to RDU for a similar position around the same time.
Asher did get a new creative director (and a very good one, I do have to add), who is developing an all-new campaign with FWA's interim marketing team that will launch soon. Because I work for an Asher competitor, I'm sure that both our agency and our competitors are anxious to see the results (this will be the first major campaign from Asher's new creative director).
I agree 100%. A brand cannot present a great new image to the world if the product doesn't live up to it. It would be essencially a visual lie. Any brand is defined by its behavior or quality- the identity is the expression of that. Branding is a critical communication tool, but it's not the brand .. It's branding!
My humble opinion was solely design based. Pentagram rocked it on old United's latest "branding". My hope back then that is was more than lipstick and a signal that United was on the mend. Then the merger happened and now IMHO I have to look at CO's old and less creative branding. At LEAST it is now consistent (almost) and there are far worse liveries.
I hope the new UNITED will become a great airline and then spark a rebranding program. But they can't do it until they have a big turn around. I am on UA long haul tonight, in F (upgrade w a systemwide), I love United's Global First and dont take the treat for granted. No, it is not Swiss or Singapore, but the CO pasta bowl (in new china) is good as is the new turndown (better brand behavior)
The world is missing love, let's use our flights to spread it!
FWAERJ From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 3172 posts, RR: 1 Reply 12, posted (2 months 5 days 3 hours ago) and read 2055 times:
Quoting VC10er (Reply 11): At LEAST it is now consistent (almost)
There is still a tulip on 77 W Wacker (and I saw it two days ago when I was in Chicago), but I expect that it will come down when the weather gets better as UA completes their HQ consolidation at Willis Tower. But that's only a small part of the story. I did drive by ORD a few days ago, and the globe was everywhere: hangar signs, the ORD reservations center (which used to have the original 1974 Saul Bass version of the tulip and was never updated to the CKS or Pentagram versions), and billboards all had the globe. Most of the mainline UA and United Express planes taking off also had the globe, and I'm sure the story is similar at other UA hubs.
Personally, I think the rapid rebranding of UA is Gordon Bethune's genes running through Jeff Smisek (which Gordo hand-picked). If you've ever read Gordo's book, he thinks that a consistent brand image is key, which is why he ordered the repainting of every single CO meatball (there were even a few PEOPLExpress hybrids left by 1994) in the globe.
And working in advertising, I think that consistency is key. Sometimes, it's easy for us; the local YMCA system is one of our most recent clients, and YMCA USA has a great set of brand guidelines for both ad agencies and Ys alike to work with. Other times, the client needs direction. For a hospital that we rebranded (the first project that I worked on at this agency), their brand was both inconsistent and often confused with a competitor. So we didn't just give them a new name; we developed a whole set of brand guidelines that included specific colors, fonts, and treatments to use.
Antoniemey From United States of America, joined Dec 2005, 1504 posts, RR: 4 Reply 14, posted (2 months 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 1572 times:
Quoting AVENSAB727 (Reply 13): prolly explains why IAH is the largest hub for the new UA.
It's the largest because it was the larger hub operation in the first place. Unlike pmUA, CO had no western hubs for the 15 years prior to the merger... anything going anywhere other than the NE region pretty much had to be routed through IAH. No matter what people may claim about UA being unhappy with Houston building FIS at Hobby, they have nowhere to move the traffic that IAH already has, so it's going to remain the larger operation for the foreseeable future.
Make something Idiot-proof, and the Universe will make a more inept idiot.
FWAERJ From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 3172 posts, RR: 1 Reply 15, posted (2 months 4 days 7 hours ago) and read 1325 times:
Quoting Antoniemey (Reply 14): No matter what people may claim about UA being unhappy with Houston building FIS at Hobby, they have nowhere to move the traffic that IAH already has
DEN can absorb some, but not all, of UA's IAH traffic, particularly for westbound connections - but enough for DEN to be getting more new routes than IAH. That, plus UA's lease deal with DEN that requires UA to add more flights, is the real reason (not the FIS at HOU outcry) why DEN is getting what would have otherwise gone to IAH, the larger hub.
MaverickM11 From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 15727 posts, RR: 47 Reply 16, posted (2 months 4 days 7 hours ago) and read 1297 times:
Quoting FWAERJ (Reply 15): DEN can absorb some, but not all, of UA's IAH traffic, particularly for westbound connections - but enough for DEN to be getting more new routes than IAH
Quoting Antoniemey (Reply 14): Unlike pmUA, CO had no western hubs for the 15 years prior to the merger...
Since the merger IAH has gotten bigger and DEN and ORD have gotten smaller, so the idea that IAH was overserved or right sized by the merger is not born out by any data.
tommy767 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 6172 posts, RR: 9 Reply 18, posted (2 months 4 days 4 hours ago) and read 1193 times:
I guess there are quite a few members here who are susceptible to classic CO "smoke and mirrors" type advertising. Please people, using a 20 year marketing strategy at a "leading" merged airline is nothing less than pathetic. Especially since not one commercial has been released since the olympics (I will admit, they were pretty good but I wanted to see more.) Even the billboard around EWR, "New Service to Istanbul" is seriously old news as it was added back in summer of 2012.
Hopefully they will come up with something new as lying to the public about how they have the best customer service is quickly becoming a huge joke.
"Folks that's the news and I'm outta here!" -- Dennis Miller
rwsea From Netherlands, joined Jan 2005, 3014 posts, RR: 2 Reply 19, posted (2 months 4 days 4 hours ago) and read 1169 times:
Quoting Mir (Reply 1): If there's one thing that Delta has done better than anyone else, it's their marketing campaign and corporate branding. Everyone else should be taking notice of that.
Agree. DL has been very successful in presenting a modern, appealing brand. The UA/CO branding as it currently stands is a total disaster and does nothing to bring any sort of brand excitement around the new company.
MaverickM11 From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 15727 posts, RR: 47 Reply 20, posted (2 months 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 1080 times:
Quoting tommy767 (Reply 18): I guess there are quite a few members here who are susceptible to classic CO "smoke and mirrors" type advertising.
I know CO did you wrong somehow somewhere and you can't get over it, but there was nothing smoke and mirrors about CO in the 2000s, and loads of data, awards, and internal and external industry respect speak to that fact. Smoke and mirrors was UA absurd cartoon commercials that conveyed luxury and premium experience in spite of UA's industry leading bankruptcy length and industry lagging service and product.
Quoting rwsea (Reply 19): The UA/CO branding as it currently stands is a total disaster
Who cares? Honestly, who. cares.? How about they focus on the operation and consistency first, and then when that is near perfect, they can turn their attention to branding?
United1 From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 5337 posts, RR: 8 Reply 21, posted (2 months 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 1067 times:
Quoting MaverickM11 (Reply 20): Quoting rwsea (Reply 19):
The UA/CO branding as it currently stands is a total disaster
Who cares? Honestly, who. cares.? How about they focus on the operation and consistency first, and then when that is near perfect, they can turn their attention to branding?
That's actually almost verbatim what SMI/J said...they don't plan on advertising the product much until they have a consistent and well run operation first. They have made some great strides in achieving that goal but they are not quite there yet...
RyanairGuru From Australia, joined Oct 2006, 2506 posts, RR: 2 Reply 22, posted (2 months 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 1062 times:
Quoting United1 (Reply 21): That's actually almost verbatim what SMI/J said...they don't plan on advertising the product much until they have a consistent and well run operation first.
In which case I am eye-to-eye with SMI/J for possibly the first time ever
Quoting MaverickM11 (Reply 20): conveyed luxury and premium experience in spite of UA's industry leading bankruptcy length and industry lagging service and product.
I am 100% on the PMCO side of this mess, but for the sake of fairness to Tommy I feel that I should point out that PMUA seemed to have upset you at some point
Well then so did TW, PA, BN, and I guarantee you AA, because if there is one thing that drives me crazy is the total amnesia of reality and the stories people tell themselves of what never really was. It's like Russia in the 90s. I guarantee you in a year the "CO is ruining UA's great service" nonsense will be CTRL+H with "US is ruining AA's great service" .
tommy767 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 6172 posts, RR: 9 Reply 25, posted (2 months 3 days 21 hours ago) and read 965 times:
Quoting MaverickM11 (Reply 20): know CO did you wrong somehow somewhere and you can't get over it, but there was nothing smoke and mirrors about CO in the 2000s, and loads of data, awards, and internal and external industry respect speak to that fact. Smoke and mirrors was UA absurd cartoon commercials that conveyed luxury and premium experience in spite of UA's industry leading bankruptcy length and industry lagging service and product.
Well, gee. If you want to get technical why don't we bring up how CO was in BK two times over the last 20 years and for a long time it's respect level was that of a basket case?
Yes, UA did have a premium J and F experience. CO couldn't get it's act together even by 2009 when it was flying 764s and 777s with lounger seats and DL was busy installing a lie flat product on their own. CO sat and watched.
CO was only relevant in Houston and New Jersey. UA's brand recognition was worldwide. Every airline wins awards except they didn't brag about them as much as CO.
Quoting MaverickM11 (Reply 20): Who cares? Honestly, who. cares.? How about they focus on the operation and consistency first, and then when that is near perfect, they can turn their attention to branding?
They should care. While DL is off getting creative, UA is running vague print ad's that are not helping their image whatsoever.
"Folks that's the news and I'm outta here!" -- Dennis Miller
Antoniemey From United States of America, joined Dec 2005, 1504 posts, RR: 4 Reply 26, posted (2 months 3 days 18 hours ago) and read 885 times:
Quoting tommy767 (Reply 18): Hopefully they will come up with something new as lying to the public about how they have the best customer service is quickly becoming a huge joke.
How many companies in how many industries claim wonderful customer service when they don't have it? That's pretty standard fare in advertising in this age.
Quoting United1 (Reply 21): they don't plan on advertising the product much until they have a consistent and well run operation first.
Which is smart. Stress your strengths. Don't hype something that you can't deliver regularly.
Quoting tommy767 (Reply 25): Well, gee. If you want to get technical why don't we bring up how CO was in BK two times over the last 20 years and for a long time it's respect level was that of a basket case?
Both of CO's bankruptcy court appearances were more than 20 years ago. But thanks for playing.
Make something Idiot-proof, and the Universe will make a more inept idiot.
catiii From United States of America, joined Mar 2008, 2277 posts, RR: 3 Reply 27, posted (2 months 3 days 12 hours ago) and read 824 times:
Quoting MaverickM11 (Reply 20): Who cares? Honestly, who. cares.? How about they focus on the operation and consistency first, and then when that is near perfect, they can turn their attention to branding?
Exactly. And if they did roll out a major rebranding, the same critics on here complaining about the marketing plan they have now would be complaining that they rolled out a new marketing plan without having the operational issues worked out. UA can't win on these boards.
MaverickM11 From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 15727 posts, RR: 47 Reply 28, posted (2 months 3 days 12 hours ago) and read 800 times:
Quoting tommy767 (Reply 25): CO was in BK two times over the last 20 years and for a long time it's respect level was that of a basket case?
It also was the result of three basket case airlines being cobbled together, which makes the turn around even more impressive, a lot like US.
Quoting tommy767 (Reply 25): . UA's brand recognition was worldwide
So was PA. How'd that work out?
Quoting tommy767 (Reply 25): Every airline wins awards except they didn't brag about them as much as CO.
Airlines don't have much to brag about, ever, so if they win any award, they shout it from the mountaintop until they're hoarse. If you aren't hearing an airline brag, then it has nothing to brag about.
Quoting tommy767 (Reply 25): CO couldn't get it's act together even by 2009 when it was flying 764s and 777s with lounger seats and DL was busy installing a lie flat product on their own. CO sat and watched.
And CO was still winning awards for J...meanwhile the CO longhaul fleet is all lie flat now, and the UA fleet still has some aircraft that aren't refitted, and the pace was accelerated with the merger.
FWAERJ From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 3172 posts, RR: 1 Reply 29, posted (2 months 3 days 5 hours ago) and read 676 times:
Quoting MaverickM11 (Reply 28): Airlines don't have much to brag about, ever, so if they win any award, they shout it from the mountaintop until they're hoarse.
BC77008 From United States of America, joined Sep 2011, 230 posts, RR: 0 Reply 31, posted (2 months 3 days 4 hours ago) and read 639 times:
Quoting tommy767 (Reply 25): They should care. While DL is off getting creative, UA is running vague print ad's that are not helping their image whatsoever.
Are you a branding expert? UA's print ads are not vague.
"He waited his whole damn life to take that flight. And as the plane crashed down he thought 'Well isn't this nice...'"
Quoting MaverickM11 (Reply 28): And CO was still winning awards for J...meanwhile the CO longhaul fleet is all lie flat now, and the UA fleet still has some aircraft that aren't refitted, and the pace was accelerated with the merger.
By 2009/2010? Hardly. Not with the soft product they were offering.
Also you bring up the fact that UA was still doing refits of the 777s well into the merger -- did you ever think that CO had about half the widebody fleet UA had and therefore less planes to refresh in general?
MaverickM11 From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 15727 posts, RR: 47 Reply 33, posted (2 months 2 days 23 hours ago) and read 502 times:
Quoting tommy767 (Reply 32): did you ever think that CO had about half the widebody fleet UA had and therefore less planes to refresh in general?
No because even with that considered, UA moved at a glacial pace by comparison, and while CO was generally doing nose to tail refits, UA generally stopped after the J curtain.
I think it's quite relevant; despite the ubiquitous PA brand, the brand was getting them nowhere when the operation and finances were a disaster. The 'famous' UA brand wasn't doing them any favors either.
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