It seems like the idea is finally getting through. After banging the drum for the humble stick of rock as the perfect metaphor for how businesses should think and communicate, it appears the people at British Airways have caught on.

Their new print advertising features a stick of rock, liveried in company colours, bearing the company crest and its founding motto: To Fly To Serve. The curt and simple 33-word narrative explains:

“It runs through everything wo do. To Fly. To Serve. It’s not catchy, it’s not clever and it doesn’t rhyme. But it’s at the heart of everything that everyone of us does.”

We like it not only for its use of the stick of rock imagery. We love it for it’s simplicity and for BA’s recognition that to get everyone to buy in to their brand promise, it has to be straightforward and have resonance with the quintessence of what they do, which in turn is our founding principle.

Is this a watershed for corporate advertising, a moment in time when big businesses have begun to recognise that consumers no longer fall for lofty straplines which lack credibility, like ‘the world’s favourite airline’ for instance,  and want business to be real, an era ushered in by the advent social media and the connected web?

Let’s hope so. But in the meantime, well done BA. Just remember where you heard the idea first . . . .

Posted by Crispin Slee