For the first time British Airways has chronicled its rich advertising history in a new book ‘Better by Design: Shaping the British Airways Brand’ written by its museum curator, Paul Jarvis.
The book’s publication comes just weeks after it was revealed that British Airways had topped the 2015 Superbrands list, the annual ranking of brand strength in the UK. The airline secured the number one spot for the Consumer Superbrand category, for the second year in a row, as well as taking the accolade of number one Business Superbrand.
The lavishly illustrated full-colour book charts the development of the British Airways brand and features print advertisements, billboards and brochure covers through the ages, taken from the airline’s archive.
Decade by decade Jarvis explores the evolution of advertising, interiors and uniforms and offers a unique insight into a bygone era of travel, when flying was the preserve of the rich and the world was opening up to the possibility of commercial travel.
The book analyses how these elements have shaped the airline’s identity since precursor airlines BOAC and BEA came together for form British Airways in 1974.
Paul Jarvis, British Airways’ museum curator and author of the book, said: “The book looks back on how airlines promoted themselves in earlier decades – it’s really quite incredible to see how much air travel has changed in such a short space of time.”
Keith Williams, executive chairman, said: “There are three essential ingredients which make up the British Airways brand: British style, thoughtful service and flying know how. This book covers off each milestone and tells the story of how promotion of our brand has changed over the decades. Although our advertising campaigns have changed over the decades the promise of To Fly. To Serve remains the same.”
‘Better by Design: Shaping the British Airways Brand’ by Paul Jarvis is published by Amberley and is available from April 15 from bookstores and online.