Originally Posted by
JohnnyColombia
But wow, how much brand value is LATAM pissing away by giving up the LAN and TAM brands? And how much is the rebranding exercise going to cost? Just imagine, ever single shelf wobbler in every single LAN and TAM outlet.
The choice of name wouldn't bother me either way, but I would have thought that having spent years building the LAN brand as a local brand in five countries (not to mention wide knowledge of the brand across the rest of the region), they would have been inclined to stick with it. Now, they'll have to spend more time and money educating the public as to who they are. Given the financial issues facing the company (namely, the rapidly weakening local currencies vs. the USD), is this really a wise use of money they don't have?
Just thinking about the US mergers of the past decade, none adopted a new name -- they all stuck with the stronger of the known brands: Delta, AA, United, and Southwest. Even Avianca decided to retire the Taca name and keep Avianca as the unified brand rather than come up with something new.