NEW YORK – In the wake of discussion about the possible demolition of the Pan Am Worldport (now Delta’s Terminal 3), there is one key element that has already been removed. The Zodiac Screen sculptures (or sculpture), now in storage, that used to dominate the front of the building. The screen was once the largest sculpture in the world.

Through the years, stars and blue sky were part of the branding of Pan Am. The zodiac was a major part of the Art Deco Pan American terminal in Miami at Dinner Key. The ceiling there had panels depicting the signs of the zodiac symbols on it. The building still exists as Miami City Hall.

The sculptor, Milton Hebald, at age 92 lives in Los Angeles and still works in terra cotta. He created the 24 x 220 sculpture in 1961.

Of all Hebald’s works, the Zodiac Screen is the most famous. “So many people identify with it,” says Hebald’s trustee, Karen Lupton. ” They remember it. It was such an image for people.”

The ultimate would be to have the zodiac reinstalled in any renovated or new Delta terminal. While they were created for Pan Am, and were taken down by Delta, the company officials who did it are long gone. Plus, the images don’t have anything to do with the logo of Pan Am, so they would fit. Lupton says it is his dream to have the sculptures resurrected.

The Zodiac Screen is Hebald’s legacy. Known for his various sculptures throughout the world, Hebald’s dream is to find the Zodiac Screen a new home. Created in bronze, there are 12 unique pieces, Aries, Aquarius, Cancer, Capricorn, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Pisces, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Taurus and Virgo. Each piece is a representation of Hebald’s vision, and his unique contemporary baroque style.

The 91-year-old Hebald states, “The creation of this sculpture took the greater part of my life. I felt that it truly related to all people. For some it spoke to astrology, others history, but even more so it spoke of beauty, love, and aesthetic gratification. I have never been more proud of one of my creations. I can happily go to my resting place knowing that
people can once again enjoy the Zodiac”.

Interest in Hebald is growing again; he now even has a website and had a new show last year. Documentary artist Linda Carfagno is working on a story of his life, which includes an interview in the Port Authority hanger where the Zodiac sits.

Many of his older pieces are in private collections and some have been sold off.

Lupton says that she did speak over a year ago to the Port Authority, which has the sculptures “still safe” in storage.

“Milton’s time will come again,” says Lupton.

Hebald is represented by the Harmon-Meek Gallery in Naples, Florida. See www.harmon-meek.com.

Certainly, both have been through bankruptcy. And now, to travel a distance, both can be about the same price. But with the new designs and service of Greyhound, the line is on its way to being a far more interesting, and useful, brand experience than Delta.

In this morning’s Financial Times, columnist and magazine guru Tyler Brule remarked upon the “undifferentiated” service of the business class of the legacy air carriers in Europe. That description also describes American legacy carriers like Delta, even more than carriers like BA, which he happened to be flying.

The situation is less inspiring in the U.S. On a recent Delta trip, I could well have been on a bus, except for Delta logo printed on a napkin and Delta logos painted on the outside of the plane. The crew was nice, the flight on time, the luggage in its place. Even the price was right. I even had a cozy spot in the back of my MD-88, just to the right of the service area. But the experience was bland, sterile.

That is compared to Greyhound, which has done a 180 with its image. In April, Greyhound began unveiling its fleet of new buses, which it will evetually completely replace the entire fleet.The first of the 102 re-designed buses debuted on the company’s New York to Montreal and New York to Toronto routes, with additional buses slated to begin appearing on the New York to Boston route by mid-April.

“More than an updated paint job, our new buses offer a truly upgraded experience for customers and anew way to sit back and experience the open road,” said Dave Leach, president and chief executive officer, Greyhound Lines, Inc., in a company press release.

The new buses sport a revamped and slightly retro logo. Inside, there is extra legroom, free Wi-Fi access, power outlets and three-point seat belts. The buses are Prevost X3-45 buses and they seat 50 passengers. The image was developed by the San Francisco Bay Area-based firm Butler, Shine, Stern and Partners.

In the press release, the company said the inspiration for the new bus design started with a look back at Greyhound’s “rich and recognizable design heritage from the early and mid-20th century, when the brand’s signature colors and running dog were first introduced to underscore the adventure, luxury and efficiency of leisure bus travel.

I am sure that the average Delta plane and Delta waiting area would be more pleasing than the average Greyhound waiting area and Greyhound bus, but that’s not saying much.

What could Delta do to improve its brand? It’s not about large amounts of money. It’s about spirit. The below are not prescriptive, but instead are intended to show ideas that could be considered.

1. Pilots should visit the cabin before flights and walk the aisle. That shows confidence and control of plane, and the age and experience of the pilots will help differentiate Delta’s full-line service.
2. The pilots and flight crew should be named on the flight. While this does not need to happen each time, knowing the names of staff helps the passengers see them as people, indeed professionals.
3. Look to Publix. How does a grocery chain “brand” a simple and utilitarian thing like a grocery chain? It does so in myriad ways.
4. Flight attendants should have a tray of freebies for guests. With the price of importing items like playing cards and such from China, having a few around to give out to waiting guests would go a long way to selling the brand of Delta.
5. What happened to freebie kits for kids? McDonald’s can afford them for a $2.99 Happy Meal. Why can’t the airlines?
6. The meal has to be better. Simple sandwiches could be heated with presses to go along with a pre-wrapped lunch. I am sure most of us would pay $10 for this.
7. Not sure what’s up with the uniforms. I’m just askin’.
8. Northwest as a brand should be not eliminated, but instead incorporated into Delta. Said this too many times, but needs to be said again.
9. Delta ought to give out things in the waiting room. What happened to airline brochures for vacations? Why not give those out to encourage other travel. And why not give out Sky in the waiting area? It’s always missing from the plane anyway, and if it is there it is a nasty copy where the crossword is already done. Ick. Taking them off the plane and into the lounge would save weight, too.
10. Delta ought to sell its routes and service on the plane. Passengers love the details of what the airline is doing. Instead of selling credit cards, staff could talk to passengers about new routes, technical aspects of the plane, etc.
11. What happened to airline jingles?

My old Virginia bank Virginia National Bank learned that lesson. It dropped the name VNB, and merged a number of times into what is now Bank of America. A few years ago, a new start-up bank decided it wanted the name Virginia National Bank and so it claimed it, no problems at all.

So it was unfortunate that I read in the Seattle P-I online (now that’s an old brand that’s staying alive) that Delta Airlines (DAL) attorneys are writing nasty-grams to the owners of a travel website called GoNorthwest.com. Go and read the back and forth between the lawyers when you click on the preceding P-I link; it appears that not only has Delta made a legal boo-boo, but it has alienated the entrepreneurial community in the Northwest, an area it is trying to win over.

I guess Delta’s old slogan, “Good Goes Around,” is no more.

But being a bully isn’t the only stupid thing they have done. Delta’s “protection” of the soon-to-be-discontinued Northwest Airlines brand through legal threats misses the whole point. They are wasting the Northwest asset. On top of that, the GoNorthwest site is all about promoting travel to the Northwest, where Delta needs traffic.

Use the Northwest Brand

The way for Delta to protect the Northwest Airlines brand is to use the brand where it can. If it did that, there would be no need to bring such lawsuits; the use of the brand does the “brand protection” for Delta. Even if Delta won this case (and Delta won’t) in order to protect the name from here on out, they would have to keep bringing these annoying lawsuits against businesses in the Northwest using the name Northwest regularly. It looks to us like make-work.

Delta has a tremendous asset with the Northwest brand, a brand name that is associated with Charles Lindbergh and Cary Grant. Why lose that mystique? Instead, Delta has destroyed the Northwest name, and will replace it.

However, it is not an either/or proposition. There are many ways to preserve the Northwest identity that do not involve operating two different airlines. They could use Northwest as a sub-brand for their Asian division. They could keep Northwest-branded club lounges in areas that were Northwest hubs. They could operate airline training schools and weather centers under a Northwest brand. A fitting situation would be to use Northwest as a service brand inside Delta; for instance Delta/Northwest’s “Business Elite” trans-Pacific routes could be re-branded as Northwest Class.

We wonder if Delta did any market research to see if non-English speaking passengers in Asia preferred the Delta name over Northwest? We doubt it. Northwest flew to China BEFORE Mao; throwing out the Northwest name in that brand-centric market would be like GM Shanghai-ing the Buick brand because it liked Chevy better.

USAirways has been very careful to preserve the various identities within its system, including Piedmont Airlines, PSA, Allegheny and America West. Through the years it has used those old company names as sub-brands for its commuter airlines; a commuter flight might be PSA or Piedmont. Recently, it painted its planes to look like PSA and Piedmont in a program it called “throwback” jets; this move pleased the former employees and passengers who still felt nostalgic over the old names.

CEO Doug Parker said the company did it because the old airline goodwill was still alive and well at USAirways. In addition, USAirways posts each of the logos of the airlines to the right of the doors of its planes; there can be no mistake that USAirways not only wants to protect its intellectual property, but that it is taking aggressive (and thoughtful) steps. Rather than threatening lawsuits to everyday folk, it is proudly utilizing its old brands where it can, and having a rather fun time at it.

But back to the Delta issue. They are not only wasting an intellectual property asset, they are wasting time and money protecting the wasting of the asset. Delta just hired Wieden+Kennedy to re-brand the new airline with a new campaign. Before they try to fix things with new ads, they best go back and straighten out the current branding mess.

Editor’s Note. Do check out GoNorthwest.com. It has good travel information, with 170,00 monthly unique users, according to Quantcast.

While American carriers like Delta haved turned themselves into boring generic brands, and then they eliminate other amusing brands like Northwest when they buy them, airlines like KLM (and Lufthansa) are doing the opposite. We read in Tyler Brûlé ‘s column in the Financial Times that Lufthansa has a special Italian service.

And now we read about KLM and its The Africa Experience sub brand. It is not only branded because of its crews and such, but it has a whole new African menu items, courtesy of the travel company And Beyond. It also has a Club Africa website, which encourages sharing and entrepreneurship. It even offers online language lessons.

About the African menu:

 &Beyond’s Group Training Chef, Dumi Ndlovu, and Group Hospitality Manager, Geoff O’ Grady have created the menus for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines’ Africa Experience, a celebration of the African continent that will run this Spring. Dumi’s carefully selected African-inspired meals (from beef bobotie to ostrich potjie) will be sampled by over 700,000 economy class and 100,000 business class passengers on KLM intercontinental flights from Amsterdam to its African destinations that include Johannesburg, Cape Town and Nairobi. Each of Dumi’s in-flight meals will be paired with Nederburg and Fourcroy Nederland wines. A video of Dumi cooking in the African bush will also be played on the flight (to view the video, see www.africaexperience.nl).

Certainly, as American airlines try to expand across the globe, they might look to efforts like KLM’s, and not copy them, but take inspiration that small courtesies, gestures and added value items like websites and cuisine can turn a boring brand into a must-travel brand.

In fact, TWA did this decades ago when it went into a joint venture and started Ethiopian Airlines.

This week, Landor Associates, the branding firm, redid the positioning of KLM, Royal Dutch Airlines. This was to help build on KLM’s long heritage. KLM is part of Air France, but keeps a distinct identity.

I thought of this in the merger of Northwest and Delta. In the merger, Delta has unceremoniously decided to completely eliminate the Northwest brand in favor of its own. That is in spite of the fact that Northwest has built up acres of goodwill in the U.S. and Asia over the last half century. We wrote about it a number of times here. That makes it true!

Perhaps Delta ought to do something radical. Like do some survey work, and find out some of the core brand strength of Northwest, and build upon it. Terminals can be renamed for Delta. Divisions can be renamed for Delta. Sub-brands of Delta can bear the Northwest name.

One could argue that KLM and Air France have more overlapping routes than Northwest and Delta, yet they are not merging them. Yes, you could argue that the two airlines represent two languages and countries. But I would argue that the Southern/businesslike/Coca-Cola style of Delta and the Northwest/Ecotopia/Cary Grant/Asian feel of Northwest are two VERY different places and mindsets.

Frankly, there are enormous constituencies in a re-brand. There are printing folks. There are signage folks. There are uniform folks. There are marketing folks. They all want a piece of killing off the brand. They all have a stake in the brandicide. Frankly, in a re-brand, everyone tends to focus on the re-brand, and for management that is clueless, it diverts attention from the real issues. It’s cover for what can be a messy merger of two very different companies.

As a result, we have had to put Northwest on our Deathwatch list as, Delta officials are about to commit a brandicide on them. This brandicide will result in the loss of millions of dollars in advertising goodwill and intellectual property built up over seven decades, as well as lost business. Saving some aspects of the brand could SAVE Delta some cash. Read our post Delta Must Preserve the Northwest Brand.

BrandlandUSA Rule:

When you are thinking about eliminating a brand, realize that it is not zero sum. It is not one, or the other. Find meaningful pieces of the secondary brand, and utilize those bits. Don’t just try to merge the logos and colors. The question is not should Northwest be eliminated. The question is how can the value of Northwest be preserved within the newly merged airlines.

But there is another way to experience the old stuff. By U.S. Helicopter. Back in the day, New York Airways ran Sikorsky helicopters from the top of the Pan Am (now Met Life) building to the Pan Am Worldport. It proved a bit (understatement) dangerous landing those big Sikorskys atop the building, but the people who actually got to land there still recall the excitement of leaving for a trip by stepping onto the roof of the tower.

Eventually, New York Airways ended, as did Pan Am. But for us folks who long for a smidge of excitement in air travel, there is still helicopter service to JFK from Manhattan. Lucky for us it still goes to the old Pan Am Worldport, which is now Delta’s nifty (but busy) Terminal 3.

The company providing the service is called US Helicopter, and the company operates 27 daily flights, Monday through Friday, connecting the Downtown Manhattan Heliport near Wall Street and the East 34th Street Heliport in Midtown Manhattan with Delta’s Terminal 3, Gate 11 at JFK.

You would do well to book a flight on Delta to New York in October. Delta is offering their 8 minute helicopter ride with US Helicopter for $45 one way (it is usually $159) through Oct 31 to passengers flying into JFK. The company also runs its own specials on its website. Security screening is in Manhattan, so you don’t have to do it again at JFK.

Futurist Dream

The company New York Airways, led by Robert L. Cummings, opened in December 1965, the vision of Pan Am founder Juan Trippe, what Meredith L. Clausen in her book “The Pan Am Building” called “Futurist” dreams. It was launched with Vertol 107 helicopters. There was a Pan Am check in desk on the first floor of the Pan Am building. Passengers would then board an elevator, then take an escalator to the roof of the building. Critics called the service a p.r. “gimmick” that was merely about promoting Pan Am. The service ended after a May 16, 1977 rotor blade snap that killed five, four while boarding. While nothing was wrong with helicopters per se, they needed to land in less gust prone places that weren’t right above Grand Central Station.

Book via delta.com, through Delta at (800) 221-1212. A one-way flight on US Helicopter is complimentary when purchasing eligible First class, Business Class or unrestricted Economy tickets.

What’s one of the most historic airport buildings in the world? There are many, including the former Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia, now the home of the Delta Shuttle.

Delta also has another historic terminal on Long Island with a “way-cool” factor. It is Delta’s Terminal 3, the former Pan American Worldport, at John F. Kennedy International Airport. WorldPort was the trademarked name for the terminal during Pan Am’s ownership. Delta should be commended for keeping these two icons of American history in such great working shape (Editor’s Note: Occasional fix ups through the years have played havoc with the over-capacity Worldport, and it has gotten a bit run down.)

Delta actually operates Terminal 2 (built in 1962 for Braniff, Northeast and Northwest) and 3; there is a connector in between. Above, a Prelinger Archive 1958 film from the Library of Congress; BrandlandUSA found it and thought it would be a great primer for anyone about to go to Delta’s JFK terminal to go overseas.

The terminal was built by Pan Am when the jet age began. It is famous for its four-acre “flying saucer” roof suspended far from the outside columns of the terminal by 32 sets of prestressed steel posts and cables. It was built to allow the parking of aircraft under the overhang; passengers would enter planes from the rear in open Jetways. It was greatly expanded in 1972 when the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet arrived. Recently, Delta has improved the experience there.

The American Institute of Architects Guide to New York City called the terminal a “genuine architectural attempt to answer the problem of all-weather connections to the planes” but derided the overall concept as “compromised by an overabundance of distracting detail.”

It was designed by Ives, Turano & Gardner Associated Architects and Walter Prokosch of Tippets-Abbett-McCarthy-Stratton. The zodiac figures across the building’s facade were made by sculptor Milton Hebald, though have been removed by the Port Authority. In 1971 the terminal was expanded to accommodate the large Boeing 747.

Delta Air Lines purchased the WorldPort, which is now known simply as “Terminal 3,” and operates all of its long-haul flights out of JFK to Europe, Asia, Africa and South America from the building.

In March of 2006, Delta announced that it would spend $10 million to renovate Terminal 2 and Terminal 3, including its public spaces, BusinessElite lounge and Crown Room Clubs. It even added a Todd English’s Bonfire Steakhouse to Terminal 2.

In the July 2007 issue of Delta’s Sky magazine, Delta Senior Vice President Joanne Smith remarked on the “distinctive” saucer roof in an article on new flooring, lighting and signage at this “historic airport.” Click on the image at right for a direct link to Delta’s website, with descriptions of services offered at Terminal 3.

Because Northwest is one of the coolest airlines around. It still runs the DC-9. And it still runs the 747. It is a lead customer of the 787 Dreamliner.

Here is what might happen. One airline will buy the other. There will be board fights. A branding company will be hired, to the tune of a million or so, to accomplish a “rebranding.” Focus groups will be called. And the brand that is less well known will be dumped to prevent consumer “confusion.” The new company will then spend millions on the new brand name, and the disappeared name will just go bye-bye. Then, consumers will be confused when they can’t figure out why their favorite airline has stopped flying across the Pacific.

The executives of the new company will say all sorts of nice things about the old brand they are dumping. They will then go out do destroy any and all evidence of the old brand. Little weasels from p.r. departments will issue branding and signage guidelines. In far-away stations, the old name will disappear or folks will GET INTO BIG TROUBLE with the new regime. Funny little men and women will stop at all stations, rooting out old stationary and signage that might reside behind the counter.

Millions will be spent on advertising this new “brand” even as service of the merged airline goes down the tubes. Press releases will be issued, saying how sorry the new management is about the service problems since the merger. Yet more commercials will be launched. Things will get better, sort of. But something would be lost.

But there is another way this could go down if this were a Delta/Northwest merger.

• The two airlines would merge.
• The merged company would operate under both names, but not as a hyphenated company. Domestic routes would share one brand name, probably Delta, because it is less geographically restricted, and more generic. Atlantic routes could operate under the Delta banner, since Delta is larger across the Atlantic.
• Pacific Routes of the new airline would be branded Northwest. Many still call the airline Northwest Orient. Northwest has a long brand story in the Pacific, and it is one that is older across the Pacific than United, which only took over Pan American’s routes in the 1980s. Northwest began service across the Pacific in 1947 with its Great Circle Route. It would be a crime and a shame if that history were shut down by Delta. Asian customers just wouldn’t get it. Northwest is all about Cary Grant; why would any company throw out that brand story. But larger than that branding issue is a company issue. The routes to Asia are high margin, and they are all regulated. They operate differently than domestic, unregulated routes.
• Select brand identity items of each of the company might survive. The new magazine might be called Sky, but some of the airline lounges would all be rebranded WorldClubs after Northwest. The Delta JFK terminal could be rebranded WorldPort, to correspond to the new identity.
• Some select domestic Northwest routes would continue to be branded with Northwest. For instance, select routes to and from Chicago, Seattle, Los Angles and Hawaii that have large corporate clientele could be marketed as Northwest, and take on an Pacific and Asian feel. This would help differentiate Delta in the west, where its practical Southern spin doesn’t have as much appeal as in the East.
• Commuter airlines associated with the merged entity could be branded with Northwest and/or Delta to preserve that equity.
• With high fuel prices, all airlines are at risk. Part of protecting a company for the future is separating divisions, so that if one part goes chapter 11, another part can survive.

Whatever happens, both brands must survive.