Transforming a storied aviation brand into a tech leader

How do you transform a brand so it can achieve its next stage of growth while still honoring its legacy?

CAE, an innovation leader for over three-quarters of a century, was known for its flight simulation technology, pilot training solutions, and operations support for the defense, security and healthcare industries. Post-pandemic, its brand remained synonymous with aviation, but leadership recognized growth would come from broadening how the brand was known. This included driving greater recognition for the company’s digital leadership, its expertise in technology, and presence in innovation-intensive markets.

Transforming CAE from a renowned aviation brand to an equally known high-tech company was critical for its continued success. Doing so while still honoring its heritage was just as important. Lippincott partnered with CAE to help them do just that, with robust messaging, a fresh visual system, and an emotive brand personality that would usher in a new chapter.

Following extensive internal and external stakeholder interviews, we homed in on a way that CAE could authentically communicate its technological prowess: become a Human Era brand, one that explains how its technology empowers people, and emphasizes its dedication to customer centricity.

In collaboration with CAE stakeholders, we then developed a new brand personality, the master of possibility, that works hand in hand with a messaging framework and helps CAE tell a clear and consistent story, underpinned by this ethos. The framework, which features core themes and messages that could flex seamlessly across audiences and contexts, enables CAE to communicate like a real, recognizable person and lend unique energy to the stories the brand tells. It’s infused with warmth and optimism. To bring it to life, we crafted five signature tactics that act as intuitive pillars for communicating across the entire brand experience.

To tie it all together, we designed a new visual system that balances CAE’s focus on people with its future as a leading technology brand. The new logo is a confident evolution of the legacy symbol, with an open A that evokes a sense of a widening aperture. The embedded wing symbol speaks to CAE’s roots in aviation, but also reflects its evolving direction as a high-technology company. The logo is accompanied across the visual system by digital-first color palette, modern typeface with precise, engineered letterforms, an optimistic and evocative photography style, and dynamic illustrations inspired by the very technology CAE creates (simulators, AV/VR educational experiences, blueprints, dashboards, and more).

CAE launched its new brand identity in July 2022, first unveiling it to employees during a worldwide webcast event with more than 3,000 attendees. It was then presented to the public through an unveiling video shared on social media. Building on the momentum, CAE then rolled out its new visual identity at the Farnborough International Airshow. As a global platform for the aerospace and defense industry, the airshow provided a unique opportunity for CAE to share its new and bold new brand to the world.

The new CAE communicates the brand’s bold vision for the future and speaks to the high-stakes, high-risk, high-tech nature of the industries it serves, highlighting its collective calling to prepare people for the moments that matter.