Paws for thought

Similarly, former Etihad Airways chief executive James Hogan, who is now in charge of the broader Etihad Aviation Group, talked often of the advantages of having a “clean sheet of paper” when developing the airline’s brand, service culture and, ultimately, business from scratch. And Etihad’s recent “Facets of Abu Dhabi” rebranding utilised the culture, landscape and history of the region to create a logo that attempts to project the image of a modern, luxurious airline.

So what does the Qantas brand, with its new livery and now paw-less flying kangaroo, represent? Well, still quite a lot to quite a lot of people, if the comments on our online story are anything to go by. That our news story on the new livery generated record page views and comments for our website shows, yet again, that Australians remain highly engaged in the Qantas brand in a way which most other Australian companies can only look on at with envy.

There is a reason a survey from media monitoring company Isentia found Qantas was the most covered brand of 2014, a huge result for a company of its size and market capitalisation.

Clearly, many millions of Australians feel a strong sense of ownership in the Qantas brand and what it represents to them, even though the company is no longer in government (ie public) hands.

Far from being a clean sheet of paper, the Qantas brand has 96 years of history associated with it, from the days of Paul McGinness and Hudson Fysh to the dawn of the jet age to Peter Allen’s “I Still Call Australia Home”.

So any move to change logos, fonts and liveries is fraught with danger, given what the brand has come to mean for Australians. The corporate world is littered with examples of companies who have undertaken a rebranding exercise only to reverse course following a public outcry.

And the prevalence of social media means any negative public reaction is often swift, articulated in very blunt terms and very quick to spread.

Qantas has done much to improve its position since the dark days of 2014, when chief executive Alan Joyce handed down an eye-watering $2. 843 billion loss.

Indeed, the chief executive told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting in Sydney on October 21 customer ratings, as measured by net promoter scores, were currently the best they had ever been. “Qantas is at the top of its game, it’s never been better,” Joyce said in response to a shareholder question.

However, this rebranding – only the airline’s fifth since 1944 – is at risk of being regarded as something of a “tick the box” exercise driven by the perceived needs of social media rather than an effort to update the look and feel of the brand while maintaining a link with Qantas’s long history.

Have the airline’s name on the belly so people can see it is a Qantas aircraft when flying overhead? Tick. Have the kangaroo on the inside of the wingtips so photos taken out of the aircraft and posted online feature the logo? Tick. Being able to say you are recognising the past with the “winged kangaroo” logo under the cockpit windows? Tick.

It is early days. The social media debate will, inevitably, move onto other topics. What does seem clear is that after 96 years linking Australia to the world, Qantas and the Flying Kangaroo, in whatever form, will remain at the forefront of the nation’s consciousness for the years and decades ahead.

Social media means any negative public reaction is often swift, articulated in very blunt terms and very quick to spread.