by Mark Tungate (@MarkTungate) High flyers and culture vultures — let’s take a look at the rebranding efforts, on either side of the Atlantic, for Paris Airports and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Which has been the most successful?
A shortened name
Being based in Paris, France, and a frequent flyer, I’ve noticed that Aéroports de Paris (ADP) – the group that runs Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports – has a spiffy new logo. A quick investigation revealed that it was the work of Paris-based designers H5, part of a larger rebranding campaign by the agency Babel. As you’ll have noticed, this has also meant adopting a shortened name: Paris Aéroport. An article on the website of French business magazine, Challenges notes drily: “There weren’t exactly 36 options available for the rebranding, given that the group wanted to keep the words ‘Paris’ and ‘airport’.”
Group president, Augustin de Romanet, also insisted on keeping the French spelling (and pronunciation) of the word “aéroport”. “We can be a world class airport and still support the French language,” he states.
The logo has been inspired by the Eiffel Tower in order to align the group more closely with the identity of Paris – that indelibly charismatic city brand. The new look even includes the slogan “Paris vous aime.” ADP is investing a total of 12m euros in the rebranding, which will include an advertising campaign covering press, social networks and a rather romantic TV spot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ly5_jh2FGs
From next year, travellers will also be able to download a new app which will use geo-localisation to guide them through the airport in real time. Separately, ADP is planning to invest in new shops and restaurants for both its sites, as well as a much-needed express shuttle service to Charles de Gaulle (currently served by grubby suburban trains, wincingly expensive taxis or a sluggish bus).
Romanet has noted that the group’s airports rarely figured among travellers’ favourites. “Two years ago, we were 95 in Skytrack’s global listing. We were at 45 last year and 33 this year…We’re making progress,” he says.
A moment with the Met
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, the Metropolitan Museum of Art recently ran into controversy when it launched its new logo, as part of a rebranding by Wolff Olins. Culture site Vulture disparaged it as “a typographic bus crash”.
But I rather like the way the new mark (white on red, above) embraces the widely used nickname “The Met”, making it feel like a family-focused hangout instead of a fusty institution. It brings to mind Philip Kotler’s book, Museum Marketing, which introduced the concept of “cultural chilling” – relaxing while absorbing culture.
To get another view, I fired off a mail to Demetrios Fakinos, an Epica jury member and editor of +Design magazine in Greece. He replied: “I think it is an improvement on the old logo. I would call it modern-classic, which might not be ground-breaking enough, but Wolff Olins [has] executed a very professional approach to the implementation of the brand. The old logo was too complicated and maximalist in my opinion, and for no apparent reason.”
Mark Tungate (@MarkTungate) is the editorial director of the Epica Awards (@EpicaAwards), the only global creative prize judged by the specialist press. In a new series of articles called Design Plus, Epica is highlighting creativity in the design field.
“Motive” is a by-invitation-only column on MarkLives.com. Contributors are picked by the editors but generally don’t form part of our regular columnist lineup, unless the topic is off-column.
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