A new identity for London City Airport

The airport looked to update the branding to create a ‘more emotive’ identity that would identify with passengers in a more personal way, according to Charlotte Beeching, external communications manager.

Big Communications was appointed to the project following a pitch at the beginning of the year.

It was initially tasked with creating the advertising campaign, but the project evolved into a branding project to make the identity ‘clearer and more concise’, according to the consultancy.

The new ‘Get Closer’ strapline was created, which is to be shown on the refreshed logo and all new branding, which is rolling out over the next two to three months.

Tim Jones, head of creative at Big Communications, says, ‘The identity was more of an evolution of what they had to make it clearer and more obvious that it’s London City Airport.

‘The whole proposition and logo developed from making it more relevant to London, that’s why we split the words. It’s an education thing – people travelling to London might see a flight to London Southend or Gatwick, but City is the only one actually within London.’

The new logo sees the introduction of a new colour palette using Royal Blue to ‘reflect the airport’s professional and business-class standard’, says London City Airport.

The aeroplane icon has been moved and modified, making the logo shorter, more legible and more adaptable, according to Big Communications.

Bryn Owen, marketing director at London City Airport, says, ‘Get Closer means different things to different people.  Some passengers want to get closer to their meeting in central London; some want to arrive at the airport closer to their flight departure time; and others want to be closer to home when they return from a trip.’

The new branding will be used across all touchpoints including online, internal and external signage, marketing collateral, airport equipment, staff uniforms and an advertising campaign, also created by Big Communications.

The consultancy has created brand guidelines and templates for the identity to be rolled-out online by the in-house team at London City Airport.