Fly the Branded Skies

 

Airline: Singapore Airlines

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

ICAO Code: SIA

Singapore Airlines Junior Jet Club Wings
Singapore Airlines Junior Jet Club Wings
Singapore Airlines Young Explorer Wings

Another year, another booze-fueled, scandal-plagued ego trip on the French riviera. If that sounds harsh, perhaps it is. It’s easier to forgive the excesses of Cannes when they’re accompanied by inspiring work. Unfortunately, this year was a bit of a dud.

Few airline industry campaigns were awarded, and many of those that did pick up Lions are retreads of previous years’ campaigns. Last year, airlines took eight Silver and 15 Bronze Lions, already a far cry from the heights of 2014. This year, it was just four Silver and five Bronze, with most of those in lesser categories.

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Flyby Wire:  September 16th, 2013

The Work This Week: September 16th, 2013

Welcome to the 15th issue of The Work This Week, a weekly roundup of new advertising, identity, and brand experience work from around the airline industry. This week, easyJet borrows from Pepsi, Singapore Air brings you the world, and Norwegian goes all the way.
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Flyby Wire:  September 9th, 2013

The Work This Week: September 9th, 2013

Welcome to the fourteenth issue of The Work This Week, a weekly roundup of new advertising, identity, and brand experience work from around the airline industry. This week, almost every airline ever launches a fall advertising campaign.
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Flyby Wire:  August 25th, 2013

The Work This Week: August 25th, 2013

Welcome to the thirteenth issue of The Work This Week, a weekly roundup of new advertising, identity, and brand experience work from around the airline industry. This week, we’re back from hiatus with a new appearance by the Singapore Girl, big global account reviews by big global airlines, and a new airline identity that’s a little bit vanilla.
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Flyby Wire:  July 14th, 2013

The Work This Week: July 14th, 2013

Welcome to the ninth issue of The Work This Week, a weekly roundup of new advertising, identity, and brand experience work from around the airline industry. This week, Aeroflot celebrates its 90th anniversary, Singapore Airlines reveals a new cabin, and KLM redesigns its logo using the last font you’d expect.
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Jingle: Singapore: “Singapore Girl Theme” (1973)


Listen: Singapore Airlines: “Singapore Girl Theme”

This must be the longest-running campaign in the airline category. Indeed, it may be one of the longest-running campaigns in advertising, period. The Singapore Girl campaign is now more than 40 years old. Think of it this way: the first Singapore Girls are now in their 60s.
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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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A tale of two carriers

New Air Australia livery

Last week, Qantas shocked the industry (and passengers) by grounding its fleet and locking out its employees. Now Qantas is flying again — but it’s flying into more crowded skies.

In the past three days, two of Qantas’s competitors have launched new low-cost brands. On Tuesday, Singapore Airlines introduced Scoot. Then, on Thursday, Australia’s Strategic Airlines unveiled its new name, Air Australia, and a new, low-cost focus. Air Australia’s new livery is pictured above. As an act of mercy, I am saving Scoot’s for after the jump.

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URL

Singapore Airlines launched a new advertising campaign featuring the famous Singapore Girl. The television spot is beautifully shot although I think it would make people feel a bit uneasy coming from a Western carrier. SIA also posted four “making of” videos, which aren’t particularly insightful really. Thanks to Simpliflying, which also has an in-depth interview with SIA’s VP of Public Affairs about the campaign.

 

Tropes: Sunsets

Every 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.

So relaxing. So reassuring. So predictable. It’s just not a real airline ad unless it finishes with an airplane flying off into the sunset—or, in the case of Eastern Air Lines, flying directly at the camera from the sun. Hey, if your tagline is “The Wings of Man,” you’ve clearly got chutzpah to spare. The clips in this video span decades and this cliché shows no signs of going away. The only difference is now the sunsets are computer generated.   Read more