Executive Summary
Inspired by the authenticity and audacity of the city of Dubai, Landor helped transform Dubai’s primary airport from a transit stop to a delightful destination. By bringing a flavour of the city to into the airport, weary travellers became welcome guests.
Challenge
Airport brands around the world are not typically consumer brands, so to truly engage travellers Dubai Airports wanted a distinctive yet relatable consumer-facing identity.
Dubai Airports was initially a single brand catering to two types of audiences, B2B and B2C.
For an airport that lies at the crossroads between East and West, with 150,000 travellers transiting through its premises each day, the goal was to transform Dubai Airports into the preferred transit airport in the world. Landor’s reputation for creating brand-led growth, and in market position made it the ideal partner.
Solution
Airports around the world are not typically consumer brands, but we realised that to truly engage travellers, Dubai Airports needed a distinctive and relatable consumer-facing identity. The aim was to turn the airport itself into a rewarding destination.
This inspired Landor’s unique architecture solution for Dubai Airports, whereby Dubai Airports would be a B2B Masterbrand, with two consumer-facing destination brands under its umbrella – DXB and DWC.
The elements of surprise and delight are inherent in the city of Dubai, and these needed to be reflected in the brandmark of DXB.
Designing a wordmark including an “X” made of up arrows, with contrasting colours that serve to position the brand as playful and inviting, clearly differentiated DXB from other major global airport brands, and in so doing, helped to reveal the spirit of Dubai – a surprise hidden within.
The new brandmark became a window to the city, helping define a range of experiences in the airport that brought alive the flavour of Dubai. These included displays of local art and calligraphy, as well as concerts in the airport for example.
