Continental & United: We Lost The Headquarters, But Won The Logo Battle

Losing everything but the logo battle

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Houston's Continental Airlines didn't make out too well in its merger with United, at least from the viewpoint of Houston -- the headquarters is gone, jobs are gone, flights will no doubt be more of a hassle.

But at least Continental won the fight over what the new logo will be.

Advertising industry blog Brand New noticed the change as the merger was officially announced today, and it's not too happy with it:

As I see it, United has always had the cooler, hipper personality with its Saul Bass-designed tulip icon and Pentagram-crafted wordmark (and livery) as well as its lovely mid-00s TV advertising campaign by Fallon.

Continental, on the other hand and despite its globe logo having matching Saul Bass origins is, well, bland. Competent, but boring. Last updated by Lippincott in the early 1990s, making the globe more refined and the typography more formal. So how can these two identities come together? Well, rather painfully.

At least the critic links to that great happy-version trailer for The Shining, so something good comes out of it..