The business news pages are blazing with the news that two of the U.S.’s legacy airlines are to merge to become the world’s largest. United Airlines, the name the new entity will retain, will aim to improve its competitiveness by offering the widest range of destinations to its domestic corporate clientele, while offering emerging markets (China chief amongst them) robust access to the United States, and convenient connection once arrived.
When two Fortune 500 companies merge (they are numbers 123 and 167) egos run high and politics are unavoidable. It’s been clearly and painstakingly billed as a “merger of equals” to minimize the negative impact on the morale of each company’s 40,000+ staff, as well as shareholder opinion.
To wit, headquarters will be United’s in Chicago and Continental’s CEO will head the new company. When it comes to the branding of the new entity, a similarly conciliatory approach was taken—a mashup of the United name and Continental’s globe logo, typeface, and livery. The United name will remain, while the company takes over Continental’s globe logo, typeface, and livery.
This is an interesting decision, especially in its rational rigor and technocratic efficiency. At the same time, it is markedly lacking in the bold vision the creation of the world’s largest airline calls for. While some financial reporters were making allusions to romance and torrid affairs in their description of the deal, this “merger of equals” smacks more of a traditional, methodically arranged marriage.
While I personally prefer Continental over other legacy airlines, and find them usually lacking the most irksome characteristics of those laden behemoths, it would be a stretch by any means to call its brand anything but rational.
Its logo, designed by LippincottMercer in 1991, is the apotheosis of generic corporate design. It replaced the Saul Bass-designed ‘Jet Stream’ mark, a roundel with lines going into far reaching directions.
That makes the tulip U the second Saul Bass mark to fall to the globe.
We couldn’t help but imagine what an alternate world could have looked like, one that took the same graphic legacy but kept some of the stronger elements.
Also, an obvious direction if keeping the Continental name is to flip the tulip on its side:
While researching the past of both companies, we also noticed the harmony that existed between both entities when they were sporting their Saul Bass identities, in the seventies.
While some of that may simply owe to the strong aesthetics of that period, we thought it would be interesting to consider how some of that heritage could be leveraged, possibly to the happiness of staff and toward the goal of a grander vision.
Flipping the 70s Saul Bass Continental Jet Stream mark makes it symbolic of things coming together in unison, keeping both the United darker blue and the Continental lighter blue. And retaining the more modern Pentagram-designed logotype makes a mark that feels contemporary and engaging, and also more likely to speak to a vision.
And what if that vision, as the largest carrier and one bearing the name ‘United,’ was one for the whole world, as well as for the U.S., one that says that we’ll bring you and your luggage at the same time, but also you and your family, you and your friends, all of us, closer together. And so effortlessly, under this blue marble, while flying around the big blue marble, it would suddenly, ‘All come together.’
35 Comments
4 May 2010
I really like the “United – Star Alliance” one. And you’re right, mergers are often not very efficient or logically put together. It can always sort itself out though!
5 May 2010
My goodness that looks great……..Modern, clean (gosh I hate using catchphrases like that, but it is so true in this case).
I hate to see the UA ‘tulip’ go, but I think it hurts more that the typeface is getting thrown out too.
Here’s hoping that this is seen by an exec at one of the firms, and this sticks.
And all I could come up with was an all-white tulip overlapping the clipart globe….
5 May 2010
I liked Continental over all other airlines – damn! Now they are gone.
Interesting and fun fact that Saul Bass’s designs were overturned again with this merger.
Thanks David!
5 May 2010
Here’s my approach, using the old continental red and united blue, plus the Saul Bas tulip to connote the global reach. Maybe the colors are too clashy. Might work better with the two blues and an intermediate.
5 May 2010
http://i41.tinypic.com/68sprb.jpg
5 May 2010
I think the critical thing would be the horizontal flip. That’s what reads “united, all coming together” and ultimately gives it a new meaning.
5 May 2010
Brilliant idea. Love the reversed logo treatment. If only the CEO’s hand you in the room with them with they crafted the logo with scissors and paste in the Presidential suite of the Chicago Riverfront Sheraton.
It appears the merging of brand names and logos from two different companies is becoming a disturbing trend. Read below:
Nike, Adidas Agree to Combine
$20 Billion Deal to Create Global Athletic Apparel Behemoth.
Nike and Adidas on Monday announced a $20 billion merger that would create the world’s largest athletic apparel maker. The all-stock deal would form a worldwide behemoth with a leading presence in the top domestic and international markets, reaching every continent on the globe including a small presence on Antarctica.
Nike is buying Adidas, and the combined company will keep the Nike name and be based in Portland, Oregon. It will, however, keep the iconic Adidas logo, and three-stripe design recognized the world over. When asked why the Nike logo was dropped, Nike CEO and founder Phil Knight replied: “Honestly there wasn’t much debate. When you’re trying to get a merger done in a week, you have to make some concessions. It was either keep the Nike swoosh, or my corporate jet perks. Besides, the company will still be called Nike; it will just look, act and feel like Adidas.
Marketing industry professionals wholeheartedly agreed with the decision. “When you have a brand as strong as Adidas, it’s really a no brainer to keep their logo,” said Dan Wieden, the president of Nike’s long time ad agency, Wieden & Kennedy. Adidas marketing chief Gunter Strauss added: “When you see the Nike swoosh logo, the word ‘hack’ comes to mind. We want people to respect the new Nike, and the best way to accomplish that is to forget about Nike’s numerous marketing blunders over the past four decades. Frankly, it’s a wonder the Nike brand survived this long with strange obtuse marketing messages like ‘Just do it.’ What does that even mean? Consumers respond to concrete taglines, like: ‘Run hard. Buy right’”.
Herbert Hainer, 57 years old, and Mr. Knight, 72, who would become the non-executive chairman of the combined company, touted the deal Monday as competitive because the apparel makers’ shoe lines are complementary, with no international overlaps and only a few domestic overlaps. “Nike makes shoes for urban American basketball thugs, Adidas makes shoes for Euro soccer freaks. It’s a perfect fit,” said Hainer. Investors seemed to like the plan, details of which have been leaking out almost since the two companies initiated talks April 9. On Monday afternoon, Nike shares were up 2.5% to $77.86 and Adidas shares gained 2.5% to $29.93.
5 May 2010
Not surprising the logo sucks. Here’s a Tilton quote from the Wall Street Journal article a few days back. Yes, it’s real quote.
“Since 2008, we’ve gotten to know each other,” Mr. Smisek added. “Our teams work very well.” The planned marketing brand, the United name and the Continental livery, logo and colors “was agreed between the two of us,” Mr. Tilton said, instead of going through committee.
6 May 2010
I almost thought they were relaunching Continental Lite or Shuttle. Even Ted got its own branding. But to launch the biggest airline deal in all of history, you’d think they would have consulted something more than the back of a cocktail napkin to determine their image.
6 May 2010
Alright… Nice work… clearly you guys are good at what you do.
But you also clearly don’t know much of the history of these two companies.
First off, Continental went through an extended period of very bad management-employee relations while they had the jetstream logo on their planes. (Employees and airline aficionados call that the “meatball”, by the way.) That emblem, while quite good when it was originally introduced, has come to symbolize a very unhappy period in Continental’s history to most of their long-time employees.
If that weren’t enough, near the end of that time period, Continental and United were engaged in what amounted to a turf war in Denver and many, many United employees wore anti-CO buttons on their uniforms (among other things). Bringing back that logo would only bring back memories of both of these rather major issues. Not a good idea.
As a side note, Continental’s base color of blue is Navy, darker than United’s.
6 May 2010
It all comes together.
If only there was room for the best solution rather than “let’s get this done now” solution.
If only there was a way to get this solution in front of both CEO’s, so they could see their error.
If only we could come together with one voice, and make this revision stick.
7 May 2010
[...] a completely unrelated note, check out this insanely cool post about the Continental/United merger. This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged Boeing 777, Business Class, Economy Class, [...]
8 May 2010
[...] from subjectiveobject.com has come up with some brilliant design options that merge both the United and Continental brands [...]
11 May 2010
[...] like I’m not the only one who’s disappointed by the New United Airlines’ adoption of Continental’s [...]
15 May 2010
Eh. For me, this merger means I only have to avoid one airline instead of two.
24 May 2010
how does the new combined logo looks like? have not seen it, but think since UA is the major in the deal, it should be close if not be the 100% UA logo. I think it is even known in more places than the continental one.
31 May 2010
The new arrangement is revolting. Continental’s globe logo looks like the most uninspired early-90s clip art and should have gone long ago.
23 August 2010
I agree that the choice for the branding is so bland. If want people to believe that with this merger you are creating a new and improved corporation. Then beginning with an uninspiring identity, is not a good start.
23 August 2010
[...] they wanted a change, they should have done some real work like David at the “Subjective Objective” blog. He goes into a bit of the history of the two logos, and finds a common background with Saul [...]
28 August 2010
your design is actually the best idea i’ve seen out there.
i still think it’s a shame that the “U” is going away. I hope they bring it back some day.
but i really enjoyed the pictures you put of the designs and uniforms from the 70’s. hilarious. thanks for sharing.
28 August 2010
Needs a little gold in there too to resemble Continental as well…
5 September 2010
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9 September 2010
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16 September 2010
I’m still waiting for them to say “just kidding”. I’ll probably be waiting a while. But in the mean time, there is a quixotic movement to Save the Tulip. Its better than nothing.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=120325557986983
6 October 2010
[...] be like for it though. A full write-up by the folks who rethought the logo and branding here: http://subjectiveobject.com/2010/05/…-is-it-united/ __________________ 2010 EUAs (on eligible segments): 18/20 (90%) – Y-UPs: [...]
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