"Florida airport logo gets new look"

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Airport logo gets new look
BY DANA SANCHEZ
The Bradenton (FL) Herald


MANATEE - Striving for a global identity, Sarasota-Bradenton International
Airport has adopted a new logo with lower-case letters that spell out "srq"
on a lime green background.

The Airport Authority voted 5-1 Wednesday to embrace a brand awareness
campaign it hopes will distinguish the airport as a larger facility and
reinforce its name, especially among international visitors.

The new look centers around the three-letter SRQ designation given to the
airport by the International Transport Association in 1956.

An airplane, the universal airport symbol, accompanies the SRQ letters along
with the words "Sarasota Bradenton International." The word "airport" is
absent.

New service and the addition of seven new destinations drove up passenger
traffic at the airport 16.6 percent in the past year. September traffic was
up 21.9 percent.

Mike Boyd, an aviation consultant with The Boyd Group in Evergreen, Colo.,
predicts Sarasota-Bradenton could be the fastest growing airport of its size
in the next five years and among the top five in growth in the country.

In the next 10 years, Boyd's forecast shows local passenger traffic growing
70 percent. "That's huge," said Boyd, who serves as a consultant for the
airport. "Sarasota-Bradenton is now taking its place among other Florida
airports. Airlines have largely overlooked it until now. There will be ups,
there will be downs but the overall trend is entirely up."

The current logo of an aircraft in pink and green hues served its purpose,
said Jane Bennett co-owner of Be Creative, a Lakewood Ranch advertising
agency hired in February to work on the airport's new identifier.

After 18 years, the old italicized font has become dated and could cause
brand confusion, she said. "The image alludes to a local airport in terms of
color and design," Bennett said. "We're trying to create something that's
suitable for a global market."

Designed in 1988 by a Ringling School of Art student, the old logo will be
replaced immediately in print advertising and merchandise and within three
months on exterior signs at the airport, said Fred Piccolo, president and
CEO of the airport.

Piccolo estimates the cost of switching logos to be around $20,000.

The new logo is adaptable and carries a strong presence, he said.

"People looking to use our airlines punch in SRQ," Piccolo said. "We feel
there was an identity out there that already existed. You don't have to
explain to anyone who sees this where you're from."

Airport Authority members had just one hour to decide whether to adopt the
new look or not. "I don't like it," said Bob Waechter, chairman of the
Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority and the lone dissenting voice in the
vote. "I'd have preferred to impose the letters on the existing logo."

Other authority members were more positive.

"It's change and change is good," said board member John Redgrave. Board
commissioner Jack Rynerson gave the new logo a thumbs-up. "It's a very bold
color, it pops out and that's why I like it," he said.

Piccolo said the new logo grew on him.

"When I first saw it, I thought 'I don't know,' " he said. "But it's much
easier and more efficient and versatile. It only requires two colors in
print instead of three."


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