Airline image Lufthansa gets a new look

FRANKFURT · Lufthansa is changing the core of its appearance. But marketing experts warn against taking such a step. The airlines, however, doesn’t see the new design as such a radical take-off from the old one.

German airlines Lufthansa says goodbye to its well-known icon. Since Wednesday, the logo of the blue crane inside a yellow circle will start to disappear from the fleet of Europe’s largest airline. Instead, the aircraft will sport a white crane inside a dark blue circle. "Lufthansa has changed, is more modern and successful than ever. From today on, this should be outwardly visible through a new design," said CEO Carsten Spohr on Wednesday at an event in Frankfurt.

Experts are mixed in their evaluation of the design change. "The emphasis on blue is bold and refreshing," says Dirk Krüssenberg, president of the Düsseldorf-based Marketing Club and former manager of Mars and Otelo (now Vodafone). But he finds it confusing that it will now take eight years for all Lufthansa Jets to be repainted with the new logo. "Nobody gets that."

Juergen Kindervater is former head of communications at Deutsche Telekom and inventor of the integrated look of the magenta-colored T. He warns of a "risky break" and adds: "Apple as one of the world's most successful brand owners would never think of changing the Apple logo. And if I change the look, I have to do it carefully over the years, instead of risking my brand identity. "

Lufthansa itself doesn’t see the new design as such a radical break. The crane, at the center of the design, will remain. Spohr, who is a trained pilot, pointed this out to his employees in an almost defiant tone after some of them showed skepticism. But the yellow color will not completely disappear; it will serve in the future as a means of

"orientation and activation". Every ticket counter around the globe will display the yellow color and it will be on every boarding pass, and employees will still wear yellow handkerchiefs or scarves. "To be honest, this further use of yellow as a second corporate color next to blue bothers me even more," says Kindervater, "then I could have left the yellow on the aircraft as well."

Alexander Schlaubitz, Lufthansa’s marketing director who came from Facebook, sees it differently. He believes that concentrating on blue as the corporate color is necessary to emphasize the significance of Lufthansa in a world of ever-tougher competition. And simplifying the logo makes it easier to recognize on the internet or on smartphones.

Experts do agree that it is good for every corporate group to develop their image over time - even possibly surprising their audience. For example, Kindervater praised BMW and Mercedes for how they have continually modernized their respective corporate logos. "No one noticed the difference, for example, with the (Mercedes) star," he says, "but in 30 years a lot has happened."

Orig. text: Reinhard Kowalewsky

Translation: ck

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