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Brand Failures

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79 British Airways<br />

When British Airways went through an expensive rebranding exercise in<br />

1996, it couldn’t have picked a worse time. The media contrasted the costly<br />

makeover with the ‘cost-saving’ redundancies announced shortly afterwards.<br />

There was also criticism about the nature of the new identity. The airline<br />

had abandoned the Union Jack colours on the tail-fin, and replaced them<br />

with a series of different images representing a more international identity.<br />

Many saw this move as unpatriotic, and Richard Branson, boss of the<br />

company’s arch-rival Virgin Atlantic, was quick to rub salt in the wounds by<br />

painting Union Jacks on its aircraft and using British Airways’ former ‘Fly<br />

the Flag’ slogan. It wasn’t long before British Airways scrapped the new and<br />

expensive tail-fin designs. Ironically, US customers and partners had stated<br />

to complain that they wanted Britain’s flagship airline to look more British.

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