sean1982 wrote: ↑17 Jan 2018, 16:39
Inquirer wrote: ↑17 Jan 2018, 10:12
I agree with the above: a brand is nothing but a name really.
I'm sure many management teams around Europe would strongly disagree with that statement. British Airways for example has "brand protection" written in their genes.
You really can't compare a simple 'consumer good' brand name like Brussels Airlines with 'iconic' brand names ones like an Air France, British Airways or indeed Lufthansa: the first type of name is used for as long as it's commercially convenient for a company to sell its product under, the second one is genetically linked to the company selling the product itself indeed and will never be changed, except in case of demise of the company of course (like Sabena or Swissair): Radio 1 will always be Radio One, regardless how they spell it, but Radio Donna may change to MNM (and in 10 years to something else again) as their audience rolls over every 15 years...
sean1982 wrote: ↑17 Jan 2018, 16:39I recall vividly how you, a few years ago, were ferociously slaying Ryanair for trying to expand their customer base to more business pax and you said that their brand would never allow that, because of it's associations with it. At the same time you were claiming that SN would always have a place in BRU because of the sentimental value of the brand for Belgian customers.
Yes indeed, and do I say something different today? Or are you simply assuming I am?
What I am saying is that nor the name Brussels Airlines, nor their blue tail with the 14 (?) reds dots, is something that absolutely must be kept unchanged forever, but I am not saying they should simply replace it by eurowings and their blue purple swirls either like you seem to immediately conclude from that.
It's perfectly possibly to design something in between, which looks closely, but differently nevertheless, so as to allow them to be recognized as 'eurowings' in markets where they are weak, whereas they will still be 'the Belgian airline formerly known under their long name of Brussels Airlines' in their traditional home markets.
I refrained from suggesting anything so far because I wanted to focus on the concept rather than discuss any specific examples, but let's just imagine they'd rename to say 'belgianwings' and take on the same corporate look and livery as eurowings has, but replace their blue and purple with for instance black and red... just an illustration to show you the end solution need not be so binary as everything seems to be in your point of view, at all.