New Look for ABTA
ABTA unveils its new look logo today - 2 July 2007 - to coincide with its name change from ABTA - the Association of British Travel Agents - to ABTA, the Travel Association. The changes in image reflect the organisation's overhaul of its structure and strategy to become more responsive to its members and more representative of a vibrant and dynamic travel industry.
ABTA's previous logo has served the association well for over 20 years and won a recognition factor amongst consumers of over 80%. However, with the organisational changes, it was important that the corporate identity followed suit.
“Now is exactly the right time to update our logo,” said Mark Tanzer, ABTA Chief Executive, “ABTA is a dynamic organisation that has been changing substantially throughout the last two years to better serve Members and consumers. The new logo is refreshing, contemporary and really fits with our strategies to move ABTA into a more interactive age.”
Nick O'Toole at design agency Open Associates has spearheaded ABTA's brand review, resulting in a new,cleaner, and more cohesive corporate literature.
“It was important for ABTA to retain the recognisable components of the logo, namely the globe and the ABTA letters, but equally, it was badly in need of a more contemporary feel,” said O'Toole.
The globe with a half union jack, traditionally, had been a more recognisable part of the logo, whereas the word ABTA is now more prominent. Colours throughout ABTA's identity have been softened with a more 'approachable' and contemporary colour palette.
The red arms of the half union jack within the globe have been positioned as a directional arrow, subtly conveying that ABTA is moving forwards.
The new logo is landscape rather than portrait, to meet the preferred format for most websites; the goal posts on either side of the globe have been removed and the name Association of British Travel Agents has been replaced with the strapline 'The Travel Association' to better reflect what the organisation is and what its Membership.
Victoria Poland, ABTA's Senior Manager, Member Communications, who is responsible for implementing the design said: “We have been systematically modernising our identity so that all our communication, both internally and externally has become more cohesive. The new logo is the icing on that cake.
“We've produced guidelines for Members on how to use the new logo. We don't want them to incur any extra costs, so we're giving them a year to introduce the logo into their stationery, print items, websites and advertisements.”
Source:
Press Release
