SAS is the leading airline in Scandinavia and one of its strongest and most recognized brands. Nevertheless, over the years it had become visually hard to distinguish from the low price carriers. So based on data on what drives sales, we focused almost entirely on the frequent travellers with the purpose of increasing their willingness to pay premium. This new identity resulted in a transformed SAS and has achieved some truly magnificent results.

Based on data collected by what drives sales we identified and focused on a new target group, the Scandinavian frequent travelers. Meaning those who travel 5+ times per year. This group represent only 12% of the market, but are responsible for a staggering 70% of the airline’s overall revenue. To increase willingness to pay in this group would be extremely profitable for SAS, and that became one of our main goals.

We named our new target group “The True Travelers” and the primary purpose of the new identity was to attract them, by creating a brand and community they would like to be a part of. To succeed the brand needed an upgrade in every sense. We needed to make SAS more premium, aspirational and adapted to our digital age. The new visual identity has helped transform SAS to be perceived as a premium and credible brand whose community the target group want to be a part of. Since launch this has meant an increased willingness to pay by 26%, equivalent to a brand value increase of 167 million Euro.