2005 MD-87

After 9/11, the airline market stalled and with-it American Heritage Investment Group’s interest in the airline market decline substantially. In 2003, they began preparing to take the company public. STAR’s initial public offering was not a smashing success but it did allow AHIG to wash its hands of the airline industry without a significant loss. The first shareholder elected board faced the issue that the airline had lacked substantial direction for several years. The board successfully convinced shareholders that the first step to revitalizing the airline was resolving its uninspired and uninteresting brand identity. Thus, Airmerican Star became Star. The airline also planned to remain a lower cost carrier but focus more on leisure travel, particularly for families. This led to the idea for a friendly mascot who would appeal to younger travelers. Alas, design agencies were charging extravagant fees at the time. Therefore, the board turned to a smaller art design studio located in Sarajevo to craft the new design language and mascot for Star. The board was extremely happy with the price of the resulting design consultation if not particularly impressed with the result. It is important to note that the board determined that Happy the Star would appeal to young children and the board contained no member who had children under the age of 25 at the time they made this determination.

They were in error. Star’s new livery, which featured Happy quite prominently, rolled out at a press conference in 2005 to very little fanfare. The livery was mocked in the national press. It only made it onto 10% of the airline’s fleet before, in 2006, a revised version of the livery and of Happy debuted. Thus, the 2005 livery remains a sort of anomaly in the airline’s brand progression but even though in itself it was a failure it did pave the way for the airline’s future identity.

[Edit: Scooched happy forward so you get a better view of him mugging between the windows]