Lessons from Airtime’s bold new identity

Too often, brands invest in cre­at­ing assets, only to use them spar­ing­ly or rigid­ly apply­ing them across every chan­nel. But when you think of your assets as tools that should work hard­er and smarter for your busi­ness, you can unlock enor­mous poten­tial. At ODA, we call this ​“sweat­ing your assets,” and our recent rebrand for Air­time is a great exam­ple of how fixed and flex­i­ble assets can extend cre­ative expres­sion and impact.

From cash­back app to lifestyle com­pan­ion

The chal­lenge with Air­time was to evolve their brand from being seen as a cash­back app into a lifestyle com­pan­ion for the mobile gen­er­a­tion. The goal was to cre­ate a brand that felt seam­less­ly inte­grat­ed into every­day life while main­tain­ing a strong iden­ti­ty across all channels.

We start­ed off drop­ping the word ​“Rewards” from their name to move them beyond the cash­back cat­e­go­ry and posi­tion Air­time as part of every­day moments — down­time, lunchtime, break­time — all valu­able ​“air­time.” To sup­port this, we cre­at­ed a set of fixed assets that pro­vide the foun­da­tion for brand recog­ni­tion and trust:

A sig­na­ture blue: Airtime’s bold sky blue is a con­stant across all touch­points, deliv­er­ing imme­di­ate brand recognition.

Stream­lined logo: A mod­ern word­mark with a flow­ing ​“A” that rep­re­sents con­nec­tiv­i­ty and seamlessness.

Bespoke dual type­face: A ver­sa­tile type­face designed to add small, joy­ful flour­ish­es to mes­sag­ing, mir­ror­ing the every­day pops of joy Air­time users expe­ri­ence when sav­ing money.

These fixed assets give the brand a con­sis­tent, recog­nis­able iden­ti­ty that anchors every inter­ac­tion across all channels.

Max­imis­ing cre­ative poten­tial with flex­i­ble assets

While fixed assets pro­vide sta­bil­i­ty, Air­time need­ed flex­i­ble assets to allow the brand to adapt and engage across a vari­ety of contexts.

3D illus­tra­tions: We designed over 30 bespoke 3D expres­sions that are vibrant, play­ful, and unmis­tak­ably Air­time. Resem­bling inflat­ed bal­loons, these illus­tra­tions are full of life. They can be used func­tion­al­ly (e.g., high­light­ing in-app deals) or emo­tion­al­ly (e.g., fire­works to cel­e­brate rewards). Sea­son­al adap­ta­tions, such as San­ta sleeves for Christ­mas or Black Fri­day price tags, extend their poten­tial even fur­ther. The 3D expres­sions can even com­bine with the type­face to replace let­ters, offer­ing anoth­er play­ful way to com­mu­ni­cate the brand.

Pho­tog­ra­phy styles: Two dis­tinct styles bring Airtime’s brand to life. Peo­ple-focused pho­tog­ra­phy posi­tions Air­time as a lifestyle com­pan­ion, with users shot from below hold­ing their phones with the sky in the back­ground to rep­re­sent air. Prod­uct-in-hand pho­tog­ra­phy con­nects Air­time to tan­gi­ble rewards, show­cas­ing items like food, elec­tri­cals, tech, and oth­er prod­ucts tied to spe­cif­ic deals.

These flex­i­ble assets allow Air­time to stay fresh, engag­ing, and rel­e­vant across all plat­forms, from in-app expe­ri­ences to nation­al campaigns.

Bridg­ing B2B and B2C

Airtime’s brand sys­tem had to work seam­less­ly for both their con­sumer-fac­ing app and their B2B retail part­ner­ships. By tweak­ing the same set of assets, we ensured the brand could res­onate with both audiences:

B2C: Bold blue, play­ful 3D expres­sions, and vibrant pho­tog­ra­phy cre­ate a live­ly and engag­ing user experience.

B2B: A more sub­dued colour palette with black as the pri­ma­ry colour, func­tion­al pho­tog­ra­phy, and sim­pli­fied icons that con­vey pro­fes­sion­al­ism and show­case the in-app oppor­tu­ni­ties for retailers.

Lessons from Air­time: How to sweat your brand assets

Anchor with fixed assets: Estab­lish recog­nis­able ele­ments like logos, colours, and typog­ra­phy that cre­ate consistency.

Stretch with flex­i­ble assets: Devel­op adapt­able tools like illus­tra­tions, ani­ma­tions, or pho­tog­ra­phy to stay fresh and relevant.

Bridge audi­ences: Build a sys­tem that works seam­less­ly for both B2B and B2C with­out com­pro­mis­ing on brand identity.

Adapt for the moment: Sea­son­al tweaks and cam­paign-spe­cif­ic assets keep your brand cul­tur­al­ly rel­e­vant and engaging.

Airtime’s rebrand demon­strates the pow­er of sweat­ing brand assets. By com­bin­ing fixed ele­ments with flex­i­ble ones, we’ve built a sys­tem that doesn’t just look good — it works hard. From func­tion­al app icons to cam­paign-ready illus­tra­tions, every ele­ment plays a role in mak­ing the brand more engag­ing, adapt­able, and impactful.

Whether you’re build­ing a brand from scratch or refresh­ing an exist­ing iden­ti­ty, the key is to make every asset count. By sweat­ing your assets, you can max­imise brand recog­ni­tion, deep­en audi­ence engage­ment, and ulti­mate­ly dri­ve busi­ness success.

Grant Willis, Cre­ative Direc­tor & Co-founder, ODA Branding

Want to learn how sweat­ing your assets could trans­form your brand? Let’s talk.
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