Facing increasingly fierce competition in the airline industry, Swiss Air Lines has made a strategic move to maintain their leadership position in Europe. They have decided to drop their old logo and adopt a simpler and more straightforward one. A new tagline “Our sign is a promise” was also created to match the new logo. This new visual identity will be applied from October 2011 on ward, but there has already been online debate about the new logo.

The previous Swiss cube logo had two adjacent red squares containing the typography and the famous Swiss cross in white. Consumers are very familiar with the old logo, and likely quite connected to it. In the new design, the word “Swiss” in capital letters appears in an enlarged font size. The colour is also changed from white to stand out more. The shape of the logo resembles an airplane tailfin and has a large Swiss cross inside. With the Swiss-cross representing Switzerland and the tailfin representing airplanes, the airline company believes that this new logo will clarify their positioning as Switzerland’s Airline.

While some find it to be clean, simple, and sincere, others disagree. Fans of the old logo created a “Save the Swiss Cube” Facebook page trying to bring it back: “SWISS decided to strengthen its positioning and brand profile. Not a bad idea at all, but the internal and external look will change as well. This is why we built this Facebook page.” Many internet users also find the new visual identity to be cliché and non-differentiating; people gave several examples of similar designs. Qantas, for instance, is an Australian airline company with a kangaroo inside the tailfin logo.

Holger Hätty, Chief Commercial Officer of Swiss International Air Lines, claimed that the SWISS airplane livery wouldn’t change despite a slight modification to the overall color scheme. Swiss Air Lines’ new verbal identity, “Our sign is a promise” will also be integrated in the overall branding strategy. “The Swiss cross, which our brand will now be incorporating even more, stands for our commitment to delivering consistently high quality – Swiss quality” said Holger Hätty. The Swiss cross will be branded as a promise for high quality and excellent services.

The overall objective of the new visual identity is not repositioning SWISS, but rather to pursue a clear focus. SWISS hopes that the new logo will effectively communicate their “Airline of Switzerland” credentials at first glance. However the question still remains; can the new logo differentiate Swiss Air Lines? With several other similar designs in the industry, SWISS faces a number of challenges. Fans of the old logo might also have a hard time adjusting. While the continuous development of brand logos can help brands adapt to changing environments, visual identity changes must be carefully considered and informed by consumer testing to prevent the loss or dilution of hard-earned brand equity.