United hasn't used the friendly skies tag for more than a decade, but does the familiar old slogan still haunt them? (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
When the ad agency hired to design United Airlines brand statement in 1961 first pitched the idea, it’s unlikely either the agency representatives or the executives who approved the campaign realized they had created a legend. It seemed a simple idea, born of a simpler time when flower power and free love and smiley faces were en vogue, yet it had many layers. While many airlines were busy touting themselves as “the world’s most experienced” or “the wings of man” United chose the earthier, more human “friendly skies” design – and it proved to be the most memorable of any airline slogan before or since. Even today, more than a decade after United let down the curtain on the slogan, the “friendly skies” remain indelibly written on the psyche of the airline traveler, although the phrase is nowadays used with more than a hint of sarcasm to describe not only United, but much of the industry at large.
United’s common theme in advertising has always been to emphasize the human element of travel, and many of the spots were designed to elicit an emotional, identifying response from the viewer. From the early days of the campaign during the ‘60s, air travel was considered an undertaking for the elite. United’s friendly skies campaign emphasized that there were no pretentions, no snobbery aboard United aircraft – it’s employees were working people, just like the passengers, and they were happy to see passengers aboard out of genuine altruism.
In the ‘70s, leading up to the bicentennial in 1976, when the country was gripped with a patriotic fervor, United waxed poetic about the joys of exploring the country with the “Friendly Skies of Your Land”. United has often chosen to tell it's story through the eyes of employees. Friendly skycaps and snappily dressed flight attendants (check out those polka dots!) sang their hearts out about how much fun it was to treat passengers like friends. United was, at this point, still serving only the US and Canada, and during a period when travel was declining (and right after much of the industry had purchased widebodied aircraft which were crossing the continent empty) the theme was to get people traveling again, domestically if an international trip was out of the question financially (the early ‘70s also marked an uptick in the number of terrorist incidents, mainly targeting US carriers abroad).
Advertising in the ‘80s had a distinctly Reagan-era wholesome approach – a lot of cheery, patriotic, family-oriented business types making lots of money. Through to the end of the campaign in 1996, United promoted expanding routes to new countries, including the large new Pacific network purchased from Pan Am in 1985, including the now infamous “killer whale” video, which was pulled after United received complaints it was done in poor taste. Apparently the simulation of killer whales swimming through the water-filled cabin of a 747 gave some viewers visions of an airplane crash into the ocean.
Have the friendly skies become a liability for United? For nearly forty years, United enjoyed the moniker of being the free world’s largest airline (and after 1991, the world’s largest, following the breakup of the Soviet Union and subsequent fragmenting state-owned Aeroflot) as well as a reputation for sparkling customer service. The rollout of “United Rising” in the late 1990’s almost seemed to jinx the airline’s fortunes – it was surpassed as the world’s largest airline by American in 2000 (it now ranks third), the cancellations during the summer of 2000 did irrevocable damage to the airline’s integrity and brand, it suffered two hull losses during 9/11 and then the world’s largest airline bankruptcy filing just over a year later. As much as the “friendly skies” are thrown about by television shows, movies, and other forms of media, one can only imagine how often the slogan is thrown back in the face of United by unhappy customers.
United’s current advertising leaves something to be desired. The airline branding expert blogger Simpliflying seems to think so as well. After forty years of memorable, effective advertising, has United’s product really become so embarrassing it’s too difficult to promote any part of it specifically? Sure, new premium cabins that bring the airline on par with where some international carriers were five years ago is something to be proud of, but this existentialist, “It’s time to fly.” concept is rather confusing. It’s sort of the advertising equivalent of saying, “Dude, just fly us.”
And now, for your entertainment, an additional selection of United ads from the past:
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