October 15, 2010

Just plane dumb

I can finally sleep at night, knowing that the United-Continental merger is done.

Except that - even though I don't care very much about either company - I just don't get the decision to keep the United name but drop the well-known United "U" logo in favor of the Continental typeface and the incredibly bland Continental globe icon, which could easily be the logo for just about any company in the world.



I guess United and Continental leadership both needed to save face, but in doing so, I have to imagine they cost themselves an immeasurable amount of brand equity. I hope everyone at what used to be Continental is totally stoked by their big win - getting the signature typeface and unremarkable logo of a now-nonexistent company to survive. Nice going.

Oh, also, I appreciate the airline's assurance that the integration - matching up all of that frequent flier data, route codes, in-flight snack offerings, etc. - will go smoothly. Except that it seems they haven't quite figured out how to code an email yet. To wit:

4 comments:

bugs said...

maybe it's a secret code for the companies' most loyal customer?!
or...they're just really stupid.

bugs said...

p.s. welcome back.
p.p.s. i really probably wouldn't have noticed that continental's typeface was now united's typeface...nor would i have remembered the U for united, to be honest. but i don't remember much, as you know.
xo

Your escalator operator said...

B1 - I think it's the latter, but I like your creativity.

B2 - Really? That big red-and-blue U that was on all of United's planes and website and tickets and ticket counters and boarding passes and emails and commercials and .... Well, yes, I know.

bugs said...

just googled united airlines to remember the U which you so accurately described, but sorry to say...NOPE. wouldn't have really remembered it if it came up in a trivia game or whatever. sorry!!!