Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for take-off! OKC has a “new and improved” airport name that's even more jumbled and misleading than before!
Yesterday afternoon, the Oklahoma City Council officially approved a request by airport officials to change the name of Will Rogers World Airport — a.k.a. our beloved “world” airport that only flies to a couple of dozen American cities.
Yep, that's right.
Say goodbye to “Will Rogers World Airport” and its flowing six syllables of sweetness. We now have a jumbly 13-syllable whopper to take up even more space on your tongue or boarding pass!
Wait a second.
In their quest for a big rebrand, the powers-that-be at the airport simply swapped “International” for "World," and then slapped the airport code we chant at Thunder games to the front?
Plus, it's still named after a guy from Claremore who died in a plane crash almost 100 years ago?
To quote the guy on Stand Up and Win, "Who are the ad wizards that came up with this one?!"
I'll let the airport officials explain their reason:
"Modified from Will Rogers World Airport, OKC Will Rogers International Airport retains the connection to Will Rogers’ aviation legacy, but also adds the international airport code by featuring the city’s most internationally prevalent moniker—OKC—and addresses an increasingly global audience with the addition of 'International.'”
Yep! Even though we don’t have international flights, we’re adding it to the name to apparently trick and deceive an increasingly global audience. Cool stuf, huh? Maybe the new Travel OKC brochures will even feature photos of beaches and tropical islands!
In other news, I’m happy to report that the OKC inferiority complex is just as strong as ever.
As Sam Anderson noted in Boom Town, our city has always gone to great lengths to pretend to be something it isn’t, and naming our national airport “World” or “International” is very emblematic of that.
Seriously, if you take off in Oklahoma City and land in a different country, congratulations—your plane’s been hijacked! I hope the rescue mission goes great!
The airport also put together this brand launch video that they had conveniently ready to go right after the City Council voted on the new name…
I know these videos are marketing tools and not supposed to portray real life, but couldn’t they have made it look more authentic? You know, maybe show an old person slowly placing their items in a bin at TSA, or some guy gloomily eating his lukewarm Schlotzky’s sandwich in the food court at 3:00 p.m.
At the very least, have some annoying kids running around on Matt Goad’s floor mosaic!
I asked an Ogle Mole who’s an expert on this stuff to get real-life professional thoughts, and this is what they said:
"The video is like inspirational brand video 101. I guess it gets points for not being cloying and obvious, but it possesses absolutely no momentum or unique point of view."
Although this letdown of a rebrand doesn’t meet my glorious expectations, I do have one question:
Who designed the logo and brand, and how much did this thing cost us?
I think I may kick the tires on the open records request generator to see what turbulence I can cause. In the meantime...
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
