LatAm invests $ 40 million in brand new

Latam Airlines yesterday announced the unification of the brands of the group, in a process that will cost up to $ 40 million and last three years. TAM and LAN identities will be retired to make way for the new logo Latam, that will be used in 318 planes of the fleet and 53 000 employees uniforms, in advertising campaigns, products and services that reach 10 million passengers to 144 destinations in 26 countries. According to Latam, until 90% of the expenses are used in painting aircraft and uniforms. The first airplane with the logo, the colors indigo blue, coral and white, premiere in the spring of 2016. The estimated costs don't include communication and marketing plans, whose investments were not disclosed. The President of TAM, Claudia Sender, said the subsidiaries of Latam other segments, such as the TAM Viagens, the Multiplus benefits company, and the TAM Loyalty and loyalty programs Lanpass will keep the current names and brands. The partners of Latam Airlines, the Chilean Enrique Cueto, and Brazilian Mauricio Amaro, observed that retiring the brands LAN and TAM is difficult and risky. But pointed out that the unification of the brands is essential for the company to have a global presence, as the plan that led to the merger, in 2012. "There were moments of heated discussions," said the Chairman of the Board of Latam, Mauricio Amaro, son of the founder of TAM, Rolim Amaro. "Maria Claudia, who loved the TAM brand, always said that this was the way. And if she felt that, nobody will be crying, "said the Executive, referring to his sister, who in 2001 took over the direction of TAM after the death of the founder. The TAM brand comes from 1961, when the Taxi Aereo Marilia was bought by businessman Orlando Ometto. In 1971, Rolim Amaro took over 33% of air and, the following year, he took half the business and the direction of the company. The LAN brand, even older, appeared in 1929, when the Commander Arturo Merino Benítez creates the Línea Aérea Nacional de Chile. For the President of Latam, Enrique Cueto, the unification of the brands is an essential step for the airline to compete on a global scale. "TAM and LAN are two strong brands, but if you want to be a global group, we have to have a single brand," he said. To mitigate the risk of losing value to retire two traditional brands, Latam hired Interbrand, which worked for about two years to create a unique case. Other mergers in the industry, or a tag ends with-cases of American Airlines on US Airways or Avianca about Oceanair-, or identities are preserved, such as British Airways and Iberia, belonging to the holding company International Airlines Group (IAG). The creation of the brand lasted ten months. The project included 4.5 thousand interviews with customers and employees in ten countries. According to the Director of Interbrand in Brazil, Daniella Bianchi, the name Latam was on the table from the beginning, but the preparation had to work with all the possibilities. "Brands are built from the inside out, and so it should be ' bought ' by officials," he said. The brand implementation timeline Latam begins next week, when it will be announced the communications group chosen in global competition, which was launched five months ago. Set the communications group which will meet the Latam, begin marketing shares with customers and suppliers, said the marketing director of Latam, Jerome Cadier.