SITA undertook extensive research and identified a need to rebrand from a service provider seen as slow, bureaucratic, and inflexible, to a market leader that is influential, value-added, innovative, responsive, and efficient. A new brand proposition and creative platform were developed. The rebranding required a change management program to drive change across the organization and differentiate SITA. The new brand identity was expressed through the website, offices, exhibitions, and an employee engagement campaign. Storytelling highlighted customers, partnerships, and achievements to humanize the brand. Key learnings included allowing time for change to take effect and prioritizing internal communications equally with external efforts.

2. Challenge
How do you go about re-branding the beating heart of the
world‟s air transport industry?
With a bold vision and the courage to make it happen.

3. Changing a brand
Starting with research In response to this, Identified requirements:
we delivered:
We undertook extensive • Demonstrate to customers
strategic research, both • A change management and employees that SITA
quantitative and qualitative programme which has changed
amongst customers, industry encompassed • Differentiate SITA from
contacts, senior SITA Managers communications, portfolio, cap other technology companies
and all SITA employees, ability and culture in the market
to establish: • New brand • Position SITA as a leader
• What SITA is today proposition, strapline, creative with a bolder, innovative
• What our customers, platform presence and voice
partners and employees and employee engagement
want SITA
to be

4. Overview of findings
• Whilst SITA was regarded as From To
a global specialist it was also
Service Provider Market marker
seen as
- Slow Dedicated to Influential
- Bureaucratic Legacy Value Added Innovation
- Inflexible Respected Wanted
Slow Responsive
• The brand was not achieving
Bureaucratic Can do
stand-out or differentiation
amongst a very „me-too‟ Rigid Lean, efficient, quick
competitive set

5. Brand
re-positioning

6. When Brand re-positioning becomes Change Management
• The SITA Brand had to act as the central driving force to drive change across the
entire organisation.
• The Brand repositioning programme needed to
- demonstrate to customers, employees and the market that SITA was changing
- differentiate SITA from an expanding list of competitors (established and „new‟)
- position SITA as a Leader, with a bolder, innovative presence and voice

7. And how this then
impacted all areas
of the business

8. Creative Expression
of Brand

9. From this…

10. …to this
We explored lots of different ways to
express the brand before settling on
a solution that is modern, fluid and
organic. It combines a mixture of
industry and non-industry imagery
with a bold, confident and
conversational tone of voice.

11. …to this
The new brand experience has
also been carried through to
SITA's corporate website and
across all internal platforms.
Here, subtly moving freeforms
and texture help bring the brand
to life, whilst the content is
presented in an engaging and
intuitive way.

12. …to this
The new brand has even found its way
into SITA's offices around the world,
helping to create vibrant, colourful
workspaces that inspire collaboration
and the desire to succeed.

13. …to this
When a company such as SITA
decides to transform every aspect
of its operations, from its portfolio
of market-leading solutions and its
customer support capabilities to its
culture and communications, it's
essential everyone knows why.
Our brand storybook tells the tale.

14. …and this
The brand identity has also been used
for exhibition and conference stands.
The bold graphics and the short
engaging and inspirational headlines
combine to create a brand the likes of
which the air transport industry has
never seen.

15. Internal Engagement
• We ensured throughout the entire process that we engaged with stakeholders at all key times and
milestones in the brand journey
- Senior Leadership Team
- Customer Advisory Board
- Executive Board
- Heads of Business
- Steering Committee
• As well as appointing Brand Ambassadors across all areas of the business and at multiple levels.
• Regional workshops with management teams led by the Brand Ambassadors helped
inspire and develop commitment to SITA‟s new brand goals.

16. The internal dimension to changing the brand:
We helped SITA place the brand at the heart of everything it does; how the business talks, how it
forms its strategy, how it engages with customers and partners and employees.
Tactics
• Global Desktop
• Email campaign
• Brand handbook
• Quiz
• Educational tools

17. External Brand Campaign
Our objective was to create a human connection with the brand – by capturing the people,
leadership, success and human interest stories that could deliver the brand values and
brand attributes.
The „TWC Campaign‟ tells the stories of SITA customers, partners and staff and uses
real people to show-case the great achievements and innovations that benefit the
entire Air Transport Industry.

18. TWC
18

19. Key Learnings
• Don‟t underestimate the times it takes (even for small changes or actions)
• Put as much emphasis, budget, into internal comms as external comms
• KPIs are mandatory, but don‟t revisit too early – the effect of Change takes time….
• Not everyone understands everything just because you‟ve told them – messages
need explanation and reinforcement (global organisation / non marketers)
• Relevance and Credibility is far more important than clever straplines and design –
without them it doesn‟t matter how much you invest, your Brand won‟t fly!

20. Last word…
“Rebranding an organisation as complex as SITA was never going to
be an easy challenge and yet dnx has understood us completely, and
showed us the way, pushing us to be bold, to be different. Across all
aspects of our organisation, we have a new, vibrant brand that we can
be proud of”
Arthur Calderwood
Senior Vice President Marketing & Sales Operations
SITA