Hasta La Creative!

Asian airline Scoot has been teasing US carrier Spirit Airlines’ for looking very similar to them – in color, visual icon language and even tongue in cheek tone of voice. Certain there’s one thing Spirit can’t crib, Scoot is now ribbing Spirit by naming airplanes after them. Scoots new Boeing 787 aircraft will be named ‘Inspiring Spirit’.

“They say imitation is the highest form of flattery and we’re certainly flattered that Spirit has recently changed their brand look and feel to something remarkably similar to Scoot’s,” explains Scoot CEO Campbell Wilson. “It seems only fair that I return the compliment by naming our newest aircraft after them. It’s all in the, well, spirit, of fun.”

In that spirit of fun, the CEO waltzes around their offices pointing out all the similarities in this facebook video (note the creatives in black t-shorts labelled “creatives”)

(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3″; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));So a little yellow birdie told us that a certain American airline looks familiar. It looks like #ScootInspires their current campaign…well, we’re really flattered! Watch this video and tell us what you think!Posted by FlyScoot on Thursday, April 9, 2015

Scoot also launched a blimp at Spirit’s headquarters carrying the message: “ Hey Spririt, you can’t have our Scootitude #FLYSCOOT”

Wilson says the blimps were a bit of fun and he is enjoying the chance to draw attention to the brand similarities: “The parallels are obvious for anyone to see – from our signature yellow, to our illustrations, icons, style and tone. “But,” Wilson says, “they can never replicate our Scootitude.”

And, in the spirit of said Scootitude, a detailed Scoot creative kit providing full details of its brand identity and templates available for re-use has already been sent to Spirit Airlines.

“We’re sure our fans want us to record the fact that we have been such an inspiration, and what better place to do so than on an aircraft that will be seen around the world for years to come,” he said. Referring to Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza, he continued “We’d of course love for Ben to join us when we take delivery of ‘Inspiring Spirit’… we’ll even buy lunch. The invitation’s open.”

Scoot won the top title of Marketer of the Year at the 2014 Marketing Excellence Awards in Singapore. It was also voted 2015’s Best Low Cost Airline Asia/Pacific by AirlineRatings.com.