Liverpool Airport gets facelift in North West ‘attack brand’ push

John Lennon Liverpool Airport is to receive a makeover by Broome Jenkins to celebrate Liverpool’s reign as European Capital of Culture in 2008.

The airport invited Broome Jenkins to take on the £500 000 project-management contract last December, having originally appointed the consultancy to redesign the information desk.

Broome Jenkins is sub-contracting illustrator John McFaul to create a 300m-long mural for the terminal, column wraps for the baggage reclaim hall and wraps for the seven buses that shuttle passengers between planes and terminal.

McFaul won the £60 000 commission in December, after Broome Jenkins founder Barry Jenkins attended a talk that McFaul delivered to South Coast designers.

The resulting mural (pictured) features images of Liverpool, Chester, Manchester, Blackpool and the Lake District, creating ‘a flowing story and journey through the North West’, according to Broome Jenkins director Beverley Wood.

Plasma screens on board the vehicles will show ‘welcome’ videos featuring film footage of the mural, with content designed by River Media.

The five regions are being treated as ‘attack brands’ – with Manchester as the North West’s capital of sport and Liverpool as capital of culture.

The mural uses the same 16 Pantone colours as the Liverpool 2008 street graphics and banners. Local advertising agency Finch designed the Liverpool 2008 logo in 2004.

McFaul and Wood say that one of the biggest challenges is balancing the demands of multiple stakeholders.

‘There are a lot of people involved, including Liverpool City Council, the Northwest Development Agency – which is funding the project – and the Culture Company in Liverpool. They are filtering the five brands in their different ways,’ says Wood. ‘We convinced them not to go for a corporate style, using photography, but to go for McFaul’s illustration instead,’ she adds.

Broome Jenkins also designed lounge areas with tables, carpet tiles and wall decorations that feature the Liverpool 2008 brand.

‘All branding will be removable, so the airport will not have to be “undressed” at the end of 2008,’ Wood reports. The mural, which does not contain any reference to the year of culture, will have a lifespan of about ten years.

The mural will be completed in September and officially unveiled on 14 November.