oneworld - Travel Bright

On February 1st, some of the most powerful figures in world aviation gathered together in London for a media event.

The occasion was the unveiling of the new ‘Travel Bright’ brand platform by airline alliance oneworld, which in turn coincided with oneworld’s 20th anniversary.

Over a dozen airline CEOs were in attendance, lined up in chairs along the stage, although it was odd to see most (including the CEOs of Iberia and JAL) sitting in silence, as only a few (including Alex Cruz, Doug Parker, Rupert Hogg and Alan Joyce) actually spoke.

As a number of commentators have pointed out, the event also again demonstrated the lack of female representation at the highest levels of airline management, with the CEO line-up being all male (one of the few female airline CEOs is flybe’s CEO Christine Ourmières-Widener).

oneworld claims that the new Travel Bright branding is “breaking the mould of airline alliance advertising.”

Essentially the campaign features a group of happy looking, multicultural (mainly) millennials, against a variety of pastel coloured backgrounds, and in different creative poses (e.g in one image a young woman pulls her suitcase along, followed by a series of small oneworld planes).

Whether it breaks the mould or not, the visuals are certainly striking and hard to miss.

Ad agency Ogilvy, which developed the new brand alongside the marketing team, oversaw the creation of almost 300 different visual assets, in nine languages.

oneworld says that these brand assets have specifically been designed to create engagement via social and digital channels.

A series of short 15 second videos have also been created, which will be shown on-board partner airlines - the length taking into account the fact that IFE / Video space is at a premium.

The eye-catching new brand platform aside, the event resulted in an announcement that will be real and meaningful to many travellers - oneworld is moving towards app interoperability.

With the functionality being rolled out over the coming year, passengers taking connecting flights on any oneworld alliance partner, will be able to check in, obtain their boarding passes, and track their luggage through any member airline app.

In the future, oneworld aims to add full seat selection (where payment is needed), and the ability to pay for extra services such as additional luggage.

Rival network Star Alliance celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2017. As part of that, the alliance teamed up with National Geographic TV.

NatGeo presenter Robert Reid took part in a series of challenges set by Star Alliance founder airlines under the heading ‘Connecting Cultures.’

For example, in Bangkok, he had to learn to kickbox in a challenge set byThai Airways. Meanwhile United sent Reid to New Mexico to perform atthe ‘Gathering of Nations’ Native American music festival.

As a piece of brand storytelling and content, we prefer what Star Alliance did with Robert Reid - as we can see how the concept could be spun off in a number of different ways.

However, with the apps working together, oneworld is doing something that will make a practical difference to its most loyal and frequent travellers.

The youngest of the three major airline alliances, Skyteam, celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2020.