Air Line Pilots Association
Giving 80,000 pilots a unified voice
When an organization speaks to two very different audiences, a fragmented brand doesn't just look inconsistent; it can dilute the impact of both messages.
The Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) is the world's largest pilot union and the largest nongovernmental aviation safety organization. They wanted to unify their brand, sharpen a story that served two distinct purposes, and build a digital presence that represented them holistically.
ALPA's story was spread across multiple distinct sites, one for members and leadership, and one for the public. The opportunity was clear: a unified presence would let ALPA's full authority come through and make the experience more intuitive for both audiences.
We partnered with ALPA to work across brand strategy, content, design, and technology toward one cohesive solution.
What we did
- Brand strategy
- Content strategy
- Information architecture
- SEO
- Sitecore
- UX
- Website development
#1
Webby Award Honoree for Websites and Mobile Sites – Government & Associations
1%
increase in organic search traffic
1%
increase in site users
The focus
ALPA has authority, reach, and mission. They needed a brand and digital platform that could carry their two distinct identities of union advocate and public safety leader without letting either one dilute the other.
Our strategy
We started with the brand foundation and built everything else from there.
Unifying the brand platform. ALPA's positioning had grown across multiple sites and evolved through years of separate messaging for each audience. Through focused brand strategy work, we clarified their positioning and placed aviation safety and security at the center of their identity while also preserving and strengthening their role as a union advocate. With a single, coherent story in place, every decision after that had something to build on.
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Building a confident visual identity. We developed a visual system that draws from aviation itself, incorporating aircraft elements and striking photography to match the strength of ALPA's mission. Alongside the design system, we wrote the copy on key pages to ensure the brand voice holds across both advocacy and member content. This ensures that the identity isn't just visible; it's consistent.
Integrating back-end systems. A brand and site of this complexity only work if the infrastructure holds. We implemented a Sitecore CMS that is fully integrated with ALPA's AMS and supporting systems, replacing disconnected older systems with one modern platform. ALPA staff gained efficiency; members gained a dramatically improved experience, and internal teams left content workshops equipped to carry the work forward.
The results
Post-launch, organic search traffic grew 21%, site users increased 15.6%, and average engagement time per session climbed 22%, meaning visitors are not just finding ALPA; they're spending more time with what they find. The two legacy sites are now one unified platform, with distinct experiences for public visitors and logged-in members built from a single foundation. The Webbys took notice of the work, awarding us with an honoree recognition. Most importantly, our work helped give one of aviation's most consequential organizations a platform that finally matches the weight of what it does, so ALPA can speak with one voice to every audience it serves.
The American Society of Civil Engineers
