Friday, September 20, 2013

The Friendly Skies Are Back!

It's not that often that a truly great ad campaign is created, but in 1965 Leo Burnett created one of the greatest:

Burnett said, "I have learned that any fool can write a bad ad, but that it takes a real genius to keep his hands off a good one."  When United let go of the ad in 1996, the new agency was smart to keep their hands off of the friendly skies.

BUT, today marks the historic return of this amazing campaign.   Flyer Friendly.  Info Friendly.  New and Improved Friendly. 

Read more about United's new campaign on the United Hub.

This new twist on an exceptional classic brings the greatness of the United Subsidiary and the Continental Subsidiary under one statement; friendly.  If you read my blog, you know that I have been a long supporter of United, and when the merger happened, I welcomed the New United into my life.

I believe that had the merger never happened, there would be no New and Improved Friendly.  Each of the United Subsidiaries have something special to bring to the plate.  Continental brought its great mobile app.  United brought its fantastic hubs.  And together, under Jeff's lead, they have created a service focused airline.

For a long time I've dreamed of going back to the golden years of flight, and though things will never be the way they were in Catch Me If You Can, United has done an amazing job of creating a truly great experience.

United has actually become Flyer Friendly.

I will have more to say as I continue to fly with United and see what else they have out.  But I believe that this is the start of something great.  Oh, and Leo, I think that a greater genius figured out how to take your great ad and make it even better.

But, hey, I'm just some guy who likes to look at airplanes, so what do I know?