Not much to notice in the Qantas rebrand.

As DIFFUSION mentioned in our 21 July blog Qantas needs more than a logo makeover the world's most profitable airline unveiled a new version of the iconic flying kangaroo last week.

In a company annoucement, Qantas Executive General Manager John Borghetti claimed the new design was part of Qantas' "increasing focus on contemporary design for its in-flight and on-the-ground products" but DIFFUSION accepts that the logo change was more to do with the requirement that the new logo fit the new A380s it will start taking delivery of this time next year.

Qantas went to Sydney based design company Hulsbosch for the work, rather than to a specialist brand agency.

Accompanying the logo redesign, is a change in the corporate typeface to a more modern grey sans serif for the airline.

What's most interesting will be to see whether customers will see any real benefit from the rebrand. In visual theory, it just registers against the Difference Threshold (or what is also known as "Just Noticeable Difference") under the widely regarded Weber's Law, which determines the minimum amount by which stimulus intensity must be changed in order to produce a noticeable variation in sensory experience. So the more sleeker, angular kangaroo is a slight variation on the 1984 rebrand.

Ernst Weber, a 19th century experimental psychologist, observed that the size of the difference threshold appeared to be lawfully related to initial stimulus magnitude. This relationship has since been known as Weber's Law.

We're not sure if either Hulsbosch or Mark Newson know about Weber's law, but certainly Qantas going to have to go a lot further to deliver tangible benefits to both customers and shareholder. Focussing on the perceptible physical displays (brand marks, livery, seating, cabin design) is far easier than looking at the more underlying brand problems than can cause sudden unexplainable shifts in brand perception. With a six year time frame to repaint the entire fleet with the new logo, they certainly have some time to get things right.

QANTAS needs more than a logo makeover.

Reports that Qantas is considering plans to "kill off" the bid red kangaroo logo, serves merely to sensationalise and simplify the debate on the process of rebranding.

Here at DIFFUSION, rebranding is more than just a tweak of the logo or change in the colour palette and if Qantas' latest remodelling of both its first and business class service is anything to go by, brand management is something that Qantas is not good at.

DIFFUSION recently flew business class to Los Angeles (at last on points) and was interested to see if the much lauded makeover by Australian designer Mark Newson has really made an impact.

Now Qantas business class is widely regarded as one of the world's best and sure, the flat seats were Newson's design as was the new Noritake crockery and the Alessi cutlery (even the plastic Alessi knife). But branding is in the detail and this seemed to lack.

The much vaunted Marc Newson designed amenities kit was merely a grey plastic shell box with Newson's signature embossed on the front with some in-flight men's cosmetics thrown in. All of this was in a grey cloth bag that also contained socks, a mask and a toothbrush - none of which fitted in the Mark Newson amenties box.

Nor was there any sign of the also announced Peter Morrissey pyjamas with the smart flying kangaroo logo on the front featured in the full colour campaign the airline had been running.. No, these were for "available on selected routes*" and the Sydney/LA route was obviously not one of them, despite the announcement by Qantas Executive General Manager John Borghetti that the collection would be offered to First and Business customers travelling on Qantas international services from 25 March.

So here goes the lesson. International business is an important part of the company's business and more particularly on the protected and coveted US route.

So with Qantas controlling more than two-thirds of the capacity on direct flights to the United States and now under threat from a new Virgin yet unnamed Australia/US carrier (for which DIFFUSION puts it's hand up to work on), so much so that the airline announced this month it would also be creating a premium economy section to sit alongside the revamped business class and to match Virgin's offering.

It would seem of some import that any brand decisions the airline makes, however small, will have a significant impact on future revenues. Those per kilometre revenues, according to Qantas' last Australian Stock Exchange announcement, rose by 1.6% on international routes this year against a 4.7% increase in revenues per seat.

And for Mark Newson, the company's unofficial "creative director", there are some salient lessons. Either manage the process well enough to know everything a customer wants will go into the amenities kit or make sure that Qantas delivers on the design experience you envisaged. Execution is always core of any re-branding exercise.

Stella McCartney gives Target some relief from cultural cringe.

Target, the Coles Group owned version of their American counterpart, have finally gotten a little design-savvy with the launch this week of internationally renowned designer Stella McCartney's winter collection.

The McCartney collection is part of a project, called "Designers for Target, style by design'' which has previously featured collections from Australian designers Melbourne's T.L. Wood and Sydney-based Alice McCall and Tina Kalivas. Unlike Target USA, this is a one-off project which illustrates some of the problems associated with the hero branding exercises like this.

Target USA are more design focussed than Australia with designers like Alessi's Michael Graves, Reidel and Isaac Mizrahi always in stock. The latest Target "Design for All" includes entire women's collections (not 14 pieces from Stella's atelier) by famed New York designers Proenza Schouler.

So why should we feel lucky we get this collection from Stella McCartney? After all she's been designing for Puma recently and the collection has been heavily featured in David Jones. And why is it only Qantas First and Business class passengers will get the benefits of design supervision by Australians Mark Newson and toiletries courtesy of Akira Isogawa and Colette Dinnigan? It all smacks a little of the old Australian cultural cringe. It's only acceptable for most people if its an overseas designer and has a premium attached to it. Here at DIFFUSION we believe good design should always be cheap and accessible. The Coles Group has had the opportunity to do this for a long time now. So let's see something from the likes of Akira, Colette and even Stella EVERY time we visit a Target Store.