What did Vivaldi help Boeing achieve?

A positioning and brand architecture that moved Boeing from being seen as a US airplane manufacturer to a global aerospace and technology company. Within six months of implementation, quarterly earnings jumped more than 25% and retention of high-potential employees rose 76%, and the brand pillars were still in use 15 years later.

What does an inside-out brand implementation mean in practice?

Starting with the people who deliver the brand before telling the market. At Boeing it meant company-wide employee research, strategy workshops with the executive leadership team and programs that built a shared sense of purpose, and only then brand-building programs and a long-running advertising campaign developed with Boeing’s communications partners.

How did brand architecture help Boeing integrate its acquisitions?

By giving each business a defined role in one master brand story. The architecture let each unit contribute in its own right, simplified the overall portfolio and helped manage the migration of technologies within the corporation, which protected the value of recent acquisitions that a fragmented brand would have diluted.

Why does a corporate brand matter for a B2B and government-facing company like Boeing?

Because the same brand shapes sales, government relations, recruiting, employee retention and partner negotiations. Boeing’s leadership invested in positioning for exactly those reasons, and the retention and earnings movements within six months show the brand working on employees and customers at the same time.

Work

Boeing Brand Positioning: From Aircraft Maker to Global Aerospace Company

Aerospace

Boeing was the world's largest aerospace company and one of its largest technology companies, but its brand was seen as a US airplane manufacturer and a series of acquisitions had widened the gap between its engineering capabilities and how stakeholders saw it. Vivaldi Group developed a unifying vision, brand positioning and brand architecture, implemented from the inside out through company-wide employee research, executive workshops and a long-running advertising campaign. Within six months of implementation, quarterly earnings rose more than 25% and retention of high-potential employees climbed 76%; the brand pillars were still in use 15 years later.

Client: Boeing
Industry: Aerospace
Services: Brand Strategy, Brand Architecture, Corporate Brand Positioning
Region: United States
Project period: 2000, with results measured through 2006
Vivaldi lead: Erich Joachimsthaler, Ph.D., CEO & Founder

The challenge: a global technology company seen as an airplane maker

Boeing was the world's largest aerospace company, with commercial and military aircraft, satellites, defense and launch systems, communications systems and logistics services. Because of the strength of its aircraft business it was not recognized for its technology and engineering achievements, and acquisitions in the non-commercial units had widened the gap between its capabilities and stakeholder perceptions. Without a strong master brand, the synergies of the organization could not be used and the value of the acquisitions risked dilution.

What Vivaldi did: positioning, brand architecture and an inside-out rollout

Vivaldi developed a positioning that expressed the ambition of the firm and aligned the business portfolio through a strengthened brand architecture, so each business contributed to the story in its own right. Implementation started from the inside out: company-wide research with employees, strategy workshops with the executive leadership team, and brand-building programs including a long-running advertising campaign developed with Boeing's communications partners.

The outcome: 25% higher quarterly earnings and 76% higher retention within six months

Within six months of implementing the new brand strategy and employee engagement program, Boeing's quarterly earnings jumped more than 25% and retention rates of high-potential employees climbed 76%. By the fall of 2006 Boeing had regained its position as market leader, and the positioning and brand pillars developed in 2000 were still in use 15 years later.

Boeing brand positioning at a glance

Client	The Boeing Company
Industry	Aerospace and defense
Region	United States, global operations
Project period	Positioning developed in 2000; results measured within six months of implementation and in 2006
Starting point	World’s largest aerospace company perceived as a US airplane manufacturer; acquisitions widening the gap between capabilities and perception
Vivaldi scope	Unifying vision, brand positioning, brand architecture, employee research, executive workshops, brand-building programs and advertising direction
Outcome	Quarterly earnings up more than 25% and high-potential employee retention up 76% within six months; market leadership regained by fall 2006; brand pillars still in use 15 years later

Why Boeing's brand was not contributing to the value of the firm

Boeing’s products and services spanned commercial and military aircraft, satellites, weapons, electronics and defense systems, launch systems, advanced information and communications systems, and performance-based logistics and training. Yet the aircraft business was so visible that customers and other major stakeholders did not credit Boeing for its technology and engineering achievements, and the brand was not adding to the equity of the firm.

A series of acquisitions in the non-commercial aircraft units had widened that gap further. Without a master brand that clearly articulated the company’s engineering strengths and its product and service capabilities, the synergies of the overall organization could not be used, and there was a real chance of diluting the value of the recent acquisitions. The leadership team recognized that a strong brand could improve sales, government relations, recruiting, employee retention and partner negotiations, and decided to invest in the strategic positioning of the Boeing brand.

“It is extraordinary that 15 years later Boeing is still using the brand pillars that we developed together!”

— Erich Joachimsthaler, CEO & Founder, Vivaldi

How Vivaldi built the positioning from the inside out

To articulate the Boeing business strategy, Vivaldi developed a positioning that expressed the ambition of the firm and aligned the business portfolio by strengthening the brand architecture, so each business could contribute to the story in its own right. Implementation started inside the company: extensive company-wide research with Boeing’s employees, strategy workshops with the executive leadership team, and company-wide efforts that delivered a shared sense of purpose among employees and customers.

Vivaldi then worked with Boeing executives and the firm’s advertising and communications partners on brand-building programs, including a long-running advertising campaign that drew on the synergies of the master brand. The brand architecture helped reposition the company away from being an aircraft company toward new technology and services in B2B growth markets, simplified the brand portfolio and helped manage the migration of technologies within the corporation. Vivaldi’s guide to what corporate brand positioning is and how it is built describes the method.

Results: 25% higher earnings, 76% higher retention, a positioning still in use 15 years on

Within six months of implementing the new brand strategy and employee engagement program, Boeing’s quarterly earnings jumped more than 25%.
Retention rates of high-potential employees climbed 76% in the same period.
By the fall of 2006 Boeing had regained its position as market leader; today it is the number one exporter of goods in the United States and the largest aerospace company in the world.
The positioning and brand pillars recommended in 2000 remained in use 15 years later, with advertising and communications still executed under the same direction.

Boeing is one of the 10 brand positioning examples that moved the business Vivaldi has published.

Boeing Case Study Summary

Boeing engaged Vivaldi to develop a unifying vision, brand positioning and brand architecture that would reposition it from a US airplane manufacturer to a global aerospace and technology company. Implemented from the inside out through employee research, executive workshops and a long-running advertising campaign, the work was followed within six months by a more than 25% jump in quarterly earnings and a 76% rise in retention of high-potential employees, and the brand pillars were still in use 15 years later.

About Boeing

The Boeing Company is the world’s largest aerospace company and the number one exporter of goods in the United States. Its products and services include commercial and military aircraft, satellites, defense and launch systems, advanced information and communications systems, and performance-based logistics and training.