jss

The funniest comment I saw today was:
Just be glad Continental is not merging with Aer Lingus

schematic

I'm a big fan of this merger and have been quite happy on CO the few times I've flown them, but adopting the CO graphic identity is insane. The logo and font look severely outdated and are missing any sense of boldness, which I think is important and which United's blocky lettering connotes very nicely, IMO.

Blue/gold rather than blue/red is fine, but the CO font is just plain bad.

BearX220

Because of the paint job?

Another added benefit of tossing the tulip is the psych effect on UA's front-line workforce. It may feel to them like they're actually working for a competitive airline now with a chance at a quality profile. Perhaps there will be some behavioral changes.

SAT Lawyer

I think the new livery looks fine except for the awful "United" lettering. Keeping "United" in all caps and its present font, I think, would be much more attractive.

UnitedConnection

If E+ goes, I go with it.

Big to the livery. Font is awful, replacing the universally-recognized tulip with the globe is just silly to me. Seems they are trying to really play up this "merger of equals" idea, but I don't see any need to carry that over into the logo/branding. When one airline clearly has better logos/branding/marketing, why sacrifice that just for the sake of this merger of equals nonsense?

My idea of a compromise that doesn't sacrifice a universally recognizable brand: keep the UA font, ditch the globe and replace it with the tulip, but recolor the tulip in CO blue and gold. Maybe someone with photoshop skills could show us what this would look like?

Lurker

As suggested up-thread, I think we should all be reading a little further before making assertions such as these.


From the FAQ pages:

Q. Is Continental Airlines becoming United Airlines?

A. Continental and United are combining in a merger of equals to form a new airline which will be called United Airlines and will use the Continental logo and colors as its marketing brand. The planes will be painted in Continental’s livery, including the globe tail. No changes will be made until the merger closes, which is expected near the end of 2010. The new airline will combine the best of both airlines, including Continental’s award-winning customer service and United’s #1 on-time performance.

I am not saying that United Airlines won't subsequently CHANGE their plans, but they sure have made clear (to me at least) that this wasn't some college kid's IT project to hastily pump out a photshopped plane for a promotional website

Lurker

PS: I too shall miss the tulip.
PPS: I think it is absolutely NO coincidence that the new unified name is "United". I think the marketing boffins (probably rightly) see it as meaning united (i.e. unified; joined, etc) to most or at least many people. Here on the United FT forum of course, we see "united" as meaning United (i.e., the airline, UAL) and nothing else!

CObigtimefan

This is ^^^^^^^, and I'm D!!!!!

boomerang-boy

Perfect comment.
I'd bet money that the logo and type face will adapt over the months to come.

ncorman

The domain for the merger site was registered two years ago when the two were in advanced discussions. I imagine much of the content has been sitting around for some time, and this image is not an overnight project at all.

HeathrowGuy

Yes, Continental is taking the United brand in a new and better direction, no question about this. CO already knows that many of its own elites -- particularly in the NYC market -- came directly from United in the last decade and have some intensely negative perceptions of United as a result. Not to mention, it promotes buy in from both CO employees (who want some reassurance of continuity) and for UA employees (who can feel at long last, the airline is moving in a direction that is positive for them). The maintenance of CO's logo and livery was a simple but powerful way to accomplish this. I'd have felt CO had died -- and that it's time to start looking elsewhere in earnest - had UA's branding survived, and I'm simply not alone in this.

Welcome aboard.

Amtrak207

I keep looking at that plane and while yes, I will miss the tulip, it wouldn't be so bad if UNITED was in a different font, perhaps the current one.

I'm curious to see what happens with p.s. Service from JFK, will it go to EWR or be replaced completely? (That is another thread discussion, so I won't go into it here.)

Back to the livery, I just realized how sharp and iconic AA's livery is, especially now!

bmustaf

I have never been a fan of Serif fonts, let alone one on an airline that is trying to create a modern brand. Serif does not say "modern" to me!

LNKed

The font is absolutely hideous. I'm very sad to see this happen to the current livery, which I have become quite fond of.

CObigtimefan

Yup. They'll definitely keep the UNITED font the same. This is just a temporary photoshopped image that isn't finalized yet.

MSPGabe

I hate Euro-White...that's why I've always loved UA's livery. A solid amount of blue.

The font is blah as well...maybe if it said "United Airlines" instead of just "United" it'd look better.


Ah well, this merger is exciting. I'm anxious to see how things go going forward.