Virgin America reportedly is for sale and may be acquired by another airline soon. That will be a shame, the Virgin America brand is tremendous. It has a distinctive feel, and it is fun. In fact, their own branding guide describes the message this way: The ideal tone is hip, easygoing, informal, playful and tongue in cheek. The brand has a fresh color palette for airlines (not red, white, and blue) and even the lighting they use (see below) is distinctive. I have written before that the lighting could likely be registered and protected as a non-traditional trademark.
 |
Their member program is called “elevate,” a creative brand name that plays into the status, rewards, and upgrades that are so important to airline users. The slogan “Breath of fresh airline“ is also fun and creative.
And the brand has fun. For example, on April fools’ day last week, the airline announced a “new” logo that looks like a bra. Don’t worry, that is not really their new logo below.
 |
I don’t love everything about the “Virgin” brands – in particular they very aggressively enforce the name against anyone seeking to use the word “virgin” in nearly any brand name context – but the airline brand stands out as unique and different. If it is subsumed by another airline, it will be missed.
