Cathay’s clean up.
Industry leading thinking from the World’s Best Airline 2014?
A refreshed brand and a refreshing way of talking about it.
One article leapt out of the hundreds of timeline updates on my early morning LinkedIn browse the other day. Cathay Pacific recently announced the modernization of their identity as part of their new ‘branding philosophy’. As I dug a little deeper it wasn’t so much the announcement that intrigued me, which in my opinion was a little overdue, it was more they way they introduced and explained it. The various visual examples were uniquely accompanied by a manifesto-style brand philosophy detailing the cause and effect of this change.
Cathay are a company with a rich provenance, stretching back to just after the WW2 when American Roy C. Farell and Australian Sydney H. de Kantzow set up with just one aircraft. Success quickly followed and it grew into what is today the world’s largest cargo and the 3rd largest passenger airline – also winning ‘World’s Best Airline’ a record four times.
Although unashamedly a fan of the airline, I always felt, in recent years, the identity looked a little outdated visually – not quite in line with the service and products as a whole. The manifesto announced their ‘investment in the future’, the visual alongside a raft of more tangible changes set to enhance the entire customer journey. Fundamentally this aims to amplify and modernise the way customers experience the brand, and where airlines are concerned the big picture matters. Changes of attitude affect a wide gamut of applications, not just they way they look and communicate but the physical environments, the products they offer and the behavior of staff.
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It was clearly and openly explained as bigger than the predictable ‘we’ve refreshed our identity’, more of an investment in the very infrastructure that supports everything they do. Yes, the new logo and identity matter as a signifier of positive change, but what runs under the skin is what will safeguard the long-term plan. I call it the iceberg effect – quite often opinions on rebrands get hung up on the cost of tidying up a logo and refreshing the colours. In reality that is just the tip of the iceberg, it’s the rest of it hiding under the water that makes the big dent (hopefully not sinking the ship).
It struck me that to explain things this openly was a forward thinking and unique approach, and one that backs up their reconfigured philosophy. Crucially it all ties in to their day-one commitment of dedication to customers – a sign of how a simple premise can transcend time and remain consistently relevant. It was Eight Partnership who gained the enviable task of bringing the brand up to date, a Hong Kong based company, and one who would have been instrumental in how to vocalise the change.
In the competitive world of aviation, and with an ever developing list of ‘channels’ in which to communicate it’s refreshing to see such openness and commitment to design-led thinking. As we see the changes rolling out already I doff my hat expectantly to a company who opearate in a market where the leaders stand out by not standing still.
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