Logo brushes up Cathay's corporate image

HONG KONG (JP): After three years flying with its new emblem, Cathay Pacific Airways is now widely associated with the more bluish tone of green, white and an accent of red.

The white "brushwing" logo -- a brush stroke suggesting the wing of a bird -- replaced the 20-year-old green-and-white stripes on the aircraft tail.

The logo has generated a series of brush-stroke illustrations that the Hong Kong-based airline uses for promotional campaigns.

Several of the fleet of 59 aircraft are adorned with a giant white brush stroke of the skyline of Hong Kong's skyscrapers.

Painted on each side of the aircraft, the 36 meters X 6 meters sketch is called The Spirit of Hong Kong 1997.

Many of Cathay's print promotional campaign materials are also designed in unusual styles.

The latest five designs of the airlines's award-winning campaign feature "Warm Welcome", "Anticipation", "Gentle", "Harmony" and "the Asian Art of Comfort", all intended to reflect Cathay's stated mission to provide customers with "service straight from the heart".

Most have appeared in newspapers and magazine advertisements here and in international publications like Fortune and Far Eastern Economic Review.

Warm Welcome, for instance, depicts a Chinese tea set painted in blue-green against a green backdrop with steam -- in a spiraling white brush stroke -- emanating from the teapot.

A small red banner reads: From the moment you step into our world, our only aim is to make you feel right at home.

Anticipation is about a drop of a dew -- also defined in a white brush stroke -- on the edge of a delicate green leaf. The banner declares: We try to give you what you need, before you know you need it.

The artist, Annie Lee, a Hong Kong freelance illustrator, says the Cathay's unusual promotional methods were designed to imprint the new logo in the minds of consumers.

"It's time to change people's minds about the old Cathay logo, so they could easily remember the new logo."

The brushwing logo at Cathay's tail was designed by Landor Associates consultants. Ensuing campaigns have been managed by McCann-Erickson Hong Kong, which chose Lee to draw the images with Chinese brushes.

"It's quite seldom for a corporate company to use such an illustration for its image campaign," says Annie, a graduate of Bishop Bianchi College of Careers in Hong Kong.

"The concept came from McCann-Erickson, the advertising agency of Cathay. They briefed and gave me the idea about what they and Cathay wanted," she explains.

Later, the schedule was set up.

"They gave me the formats and took photos for me. I then adjusted it by myself," she said.

Preparation time varied.

"Sometimes we just needed a few hours to discuss, but sometimes it took longer, because we work with so many people both from Cathay and McCann-Erickson.

"That's why sometimes we have to change the drawings many, many times. We even had to come up with totally different illustrations. We work with hundreds of works, but still can't get everybody to like them."

Lee, who has drawn since the age of four, was an art director for 10 years before becoming a freelance illustrator.

"After 10 years, I felt that I wanted to be an illustrator because being an art director involves much more coordinating work. I started as a fulltime freelance illustrator about six or seven years ago."

When she can fit it into her schedule, Lee works for other firms and publications using watercolors and cartoons.

"But this kind of brushstroke illustration is specially made for Cathay," she says.

The bulk of her portfolio spans thousands of brushstroke illustrations for Cathay, including ones used in-house.

"In the past three years, I've spent 80 percent of my time in doing Cathay's things. No time for other firms," she says. (bsr)