This article originally featured in The Telegraph, read more below.
On a recent flight with Virgin Atlantic, I struggled to sleep in the magenta glow of the airline’s dimmed cabin lights. They were meant to be restful but, for me, they acted like a Barbie-esque iteration of one of those daytime wake-up alarms, ensuring I teetered between wakefulness and fitful dreams for the duration of the flight.
It rather jarred with the promise of the airline’s boarding playlist, which had featured lulling, beachy music by Beabadoobee, a London-based singer with a sugar-sweet voice. That was part of February’s “night-time boarding” selection – unlike some other airlines, Virgin changes its cabin tunes monthly (had I been on a day flight, I could have sung along to Raye’s Where Is My Husband! and Taylor Swift’s The Fate of Ophelia). However, combined with the red uniforms, the pink lights and a very hectic cabin, it felt discombobulating in a way I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
Could it be because the airline didn’t have its sensory branding (the art of creating an emotional connection through the senses) quite down pat? Sonic branding, in particular, is experiencing something of a – ahem – boom, with operators clambering to ensure their sound matches their image in order to differentiate themselves from the competition, make flying a more pleasurable experience and, consequently, promote loyalty.