Behind the Scenes: The Making of Southwest's New Look

How do you go about changing the visual identity of an iconic brand without losing the elements that make your company truly unique and special? That’s the question that the Southwest Airlines leadership team asked ourselves last spring. What ensued was a year-and-a-half-long effort to modernize the Southwest brand by introducing a bold look that marries our past, present, and future.

Over the past five to 10 years, Southwest Airlines has been undergoing a transformation. We have evolved our business model to respond to a changing world around us. We acquired AirTran Airways, revamped our frequent flyer program, brought on larger gauge aircraft, and launched international service — just to name a few of the major initiatives we have undertaken. As many of these initiatives have come together and taken shape around the same time, it was only natural to pose the question: “What does a modern Southwest Airlines look like?”

Earlier this month, we unveiled our new look to the world. Here is the process we went through to bring this idea to life.

Step One: Make a Decision

Our senior leadership team had some spirited discussions about the timing and the need for updating our brand. We consulted with each other, with our colleagues — especially our Marketing Brand Communication Team, and took a pulse on the need for change within the company. Ultimately, we all agreed it was time for a change, and I authorized the green light for our teams to proceed. In my opinion, one of the most important qualities a leader should have is decisiveness. Listen to all sides, understand the issues and the questions at hand, and decide on a path forward — and don’t look back!

Step Two: Audit and Criteria Work

Once the decision was made, we conducted a comprehensive audit of our brand. The most challenging issue we faced was that we have historically had two logos: one tactical (our airplane) and one emotional (a heart with wings) — see below.

Having two logos was confusing, both for our employees and our customers. So we fairly quickly identified the need to have just one logo moving forward. With that important decision made, we set out to define the criteria that would be the foundation for all of the work to explore a new logo, a new livery, and a new look across the board. We knew we wanted one logo; we wanted to convey the concept of moving people; and we wanted to maintain the elements of the heart with a semblance of our historic colors.

Additionally, we identified a handful of sentiments that we wanted our look to convey. As an example, one of the sentiments was: "Stay true to ourselves — humble, flexible, and fair." Another was: "Prove that great value can mean great experience too." Those sentiments helped make sure that the ensuing work would be predicated on a foundation that was both true to our objectives on the project and true to what we stand for as a company.

Step Three: Livery and Logo

While the effort would span the entire company, we knew we had to focus our attention on the livery (aircraft design) and the logo. With the help from outside agencies, we let our creative juices flow. In short time, the teams easily created more than 50 different concepts. They would bring me in for various gut checks along the way, and we narrowed that daunting list down to about six.

Step Four: Research and Findings

Not surprisingly, we conducted a ton of research — both quantitative and qualitative — to see if we were on the right track. We always include our employees in everything that we do, and we gained some valuable insights by bringing in a group of our own people. We also conducted focus groups in several of our key markets. These groups consisted of customers, business travelers, leisure travelers, and non-customers. The focus groups complemented online surveys we conducted during the same time period.

I think the most surprising — and comforting — finding was that in all the groups that we surveyed, every single one of them was comfortable with Southwest updating our look. That is extremely unusual — especially with a change of this magnitude. But it helped confirm that we were on the right track. A couple other important findings from the research told us that folks loved the heart, and they loved the colors they saw (blue, yellow, and red).

Our research included a legal review of trademarks from other organizations, and once we cleared that hurdle, we could set about narrowing the field of concepts.

Step Five: Conceptual Review

Our project team presented three concepts to the executive steering committee on the project. In another unexpected turn, we were all unanimous on the concept we loved. Again, another sign we were on the right track. With all onboard and a concept we loved, we set out to execute the initiative and bring the vision to life.

Step Six: Execute

To walk you through the execution of updating our look across the company would warrant a completely separate post in itself. Needless to say, a cross-functional team poured their hearts and souls into identifying every single asset and location that bore our brand. With project teams assigned to tackle certain elements (paint for aircraft, website, airport signage, etc.), the teams worked fast and furiously to ensure that we rolled out a comprehensive look in time for our big reveal on Monday, Sept. 8.

Needless to say, I have oversimplified the process immensely — at the risk of doing a severe injustice to all of our teams and partners who helped us on this massive project. Just getting past step one felt like a monumental effort in itself, and in hindsight, that was the easy part!

I am so very proud and so very thankful to everyone who had a hand in this project. I mentioned earlier that a leader needs to be decisive. In my opinion, a leader must also cultivate teamwork and have a commitment to communicate. This project was the epitome of what cohesive, cooperative teamwork looks like in action. And it took an overabundance of communication to ensure that everyone kept their eye on the ball and the train stayed on the tracks. It took a village, and that village stood tall as we introduced the vibrant colors and warm heart of Southwest Airlines to the rest of the world.

To hear more about the project from various leaders involved in the project, visit: http://www.southwest-heart.com/.

Photos: Southwest Airlines