I am flying a few 1000 ft above sea level. The clouds look glorious. The sky’s a lovely shade card of oranges and pinks. Guess what I am thinking? Brand identity.
Am looking at Indigo Airway’s ‘Hello 6E’ and some branding lessons from school come right back. The low-cost carrier proudly wears its no-frills badge. It extends it smartly to the in-flight magazine (Hello 6E) too. Here’s why you should check it out the next time you fly Indigo.
- It’s no-nonsense. Most airlines offer an in-flight magazine, here it’s just a brochure – no dreamy travel escapades, no recipes for the monsoon. Just stuff you can buy on board and some information about their flights and routes. It’s in line with their ‘we focus only on what matters’ philosophy. The downside: you need to buy your on-board reading, if you are looking for some. They sell a couple of magazines.
- It’s got a lot of white space. Clean pages, uncluttered layout – you could feel a little cramped for lack of leg room, but the magazine simply smiles ‘space’. The clean theme continues with the images; the objects are placed against clear white backgrounds. There aren’t a zillion things crowding for attention. It’s the ‘Apple’ feel on board.
- Excellent use of brand identity. Remember the Indigo logo – the dotted aeroplane? The same dots are used cleverly to add to visual appeal and reinforce brand identity. Call outs use big, bold circles. Page numbers have the same dotted look. Shades of blue rule.
If you take away the masthead and the cover pages, your printed communication should still scream out your brand identity. Try telling the pages of one in-flight magazine from the other, without their covers. And let us know how many you can identify successfully.
