Late last year, I had the opportunity to pick the brains of two Senior Partners at Lippincott, New York, on my favorite topic of airline branding. Both Randall Stone and Rodney Abbot bring tons of experience in design and brand creation and had some very interesting views to share about how airlines can tap on the potential of their own brands.

Lippincott is a leading brand strategy and design consultancy, which has worked with airlines globally, including Virgin Atlantic and most recently TACA Airlines. Lippincot helped TACA deliver a “calming trip” to their customers, the moment they stepped aboard the plane. They have also extensively helped Delta Airlines deliver a 360 degree brand experience, both internally and to the external customer. Randall and Rodney share a number of anecdotes in their interview about both these case studies.

Here are some of the key points they make in the interview:

Identifying, and then optimizing key touch-points relating to brand experience (that means inside and outside the plane)
Sensory branding – how all five senses can be involved in creating a holistic brand experience (and how Singapore Airlines did it!)
How design can be infused in brand strategy to allow the airline to take-off, and how Delta …

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Over the past few months, I’ve had a chance to interact with some of the brighest minds of the airline industry as well as key brand leaders. Though these were all individual interviews, there was a common question in all of them – “What’re your thoughts about airlines and branding in 2009″.

I’ve now compiled them in the video below and you can hear the expert views of Lisa Markovic – VP of Sales & Marketing at Jet Airways, Joe Crump – VP of Strategic Planning at Razorfish, Rodney Abbot and Randall Stone – Senior Partners at Lippincott.

Their predictions?
Fewer airlines at the end of 2009
Lisa  of Jet Airways feels that this is probably the most difficult of recessions for the airline industry. She believes that the year ahead will see a number of consolidations in the industry, and generally the larger airlines will emerge as dominant players globally.
Focus on customer service and the brand
Rodney from Lippincott believes that the fewer airlines that survive will have to focus on the brand …

Lippincott, a leading brand strategy and design consultancy, has worked with airlines globally, including Virgin Atlantic and most recently TACA Airlines. Lippincot helped TACA deliver a “calming trip” to their customers, the moment they stepped aboard the plane. They have also extensively helped Delta Airlines deliver a 360 degree brand experience, both internally and to the external customer.

I decided to take this opportunity to meet up with Michael D’Esopo, a senior partner at Lippincott’s Boston office, to get his perspectives on airline branding, and what makes for a truly successful airline brand. With 15 years’ experience in brand building, he revealed a number of gems, and you can view the full, uncut version of the interview right below.

Here’s a quick summary of Michael’s thoughts:

Differentiation – Like all brands, airlines should have a strong and unique value proposition – something Barack Obama did so well, as I discussed in my previous article.
Clarity – They should then deliver this differentiated positioning to consumers with clarity. The important point here is to deliver
Mergers: During mergers in the industry, airlines should ideally strive for …