SATS Rebrand: Taking Flight with Turbulence

Decent identity, unfortunate brand rollout 🤢

SATS changed its brand identity late last year, but you probably only saw it during the Total Defence 2025’s Exercise SG Ready launch event, where they distributed over 150,000 ready-to-eat (RTE) meals.

What was meant to be the grand introduction of the new brand identity at its first major event since rebranding turned into a disaster—over 180 cases of gastroenteritis were reported, mostly from schools.

Scandal aside, SATS’ new identity serves as a good case study of a business-to-business company rebranding exercise.

More than just army meals

SATS is often associated with cookhouse food for national servicemen and in-flight meals for Singapore Airlines. But its reach extends far beyond Singapore.

Globally, its reputation as an aviation services and food solutions provider is unparalleled—ever since its acquisition of Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) in 2024, formerly the world’s biggest air cargo handler, SATS’ now operates in 215 airports in 27 countries.

In the food solutions sector, SATS is a dominant player in in-flight catering and has expanded into retail, food services, and HoReCa (hotels, restaurants, and catering).

SATS has certainly come a long way from its original name of “Singapore Airport Terminal Services Limited”.

A Visual Marriage

SATS’ former logo was a maroon circle with the word “sats” aligned to the right in a wide sans-serif typeface. Nothing fancy, but it was functional and presumably a nod to Singapore’s Little Red Dot moniker.

WFS’ former logo was more direct in recalling the industry it operates in. It featured a plane traveling along the axis of the globe, with the plane’s path highlighted as a silhouette, forming a ring around it. Together with the words “WFS” in Arial beside the graphic, the logo looked dated and irreflective of an industry leader.

SATS said the following of the new brand identity:

The new visual identity features a double loop and a ‘to the power of’ mathematical symbol to signify the coming together of SATS and WFS to power a world of trade, travel and taste via the Group’s connected global network of aviation gateway services, air cargo handling, and food solutions. The new visual will be rolled out in phases over the next three years. - SATS

Similar to how SATS’ first logo used the Singapore Airlines’ bird icon, both SATS and WFS now share one graphic in their logos while keeping their names. The double loop can be interpreted as a symbol of the acquisition, signifying synergy between both brands. Cynics, however, might say it looks too much like a tide pod.

Although the double loop helps strengthen the link between the two brands, it is not intuitive that WFS is a subsidiary of SATS. It may not be a problem if SATS only intends to use each name exclusively in specific regions.

The superscript placement of the wordmark is a novel concept, but may not be obvious as numbers are usually used to describe exponentiation. A stronger execution might have involved swapping the double loop and wordmark positions, although the double loop would be less prominent.

Updating the Family

With a large catalogue of vehicles and equipment, it is understandable that the full implementation of the brand refresh would take three years. A mockup gives us an idea of what to expect:

SATS’ bright red corporate colour will stand out in the sea of airport vehicles, but it risks being overshadowed by airline liveries. The gradient-filled designs have been replaced with sleek outlines, giving the brand a more modern and polished look.

One interesting question is how subsidiary brands like SATS Security Services will be handled. Would the logo only contain the double loop, or would it include the wordmark under it, similar to SATS’ site favicon?

Given how the word “food” was nowhere to be found on the branding materials during the Exercise SG Ready launch event, it could signal SATS’ intent to focus more on its parent brand rather than its subsidiaries.

Online, SATS continues to use curves, adopting a sleek, tech-ish feel to its brand applications such as festive ecards.

The Rough Start Doesn’t Define the Identity

Even though SATS’ new identity had a rough start, it had nothing to do with its actual design, but rather with the timing of the minor controversy. The refreshed identity, supported by a cohesive brand strategy, positions SATS as a key player in aviation and food solutions.

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Branding Singapore is a series which highlights notable local brand identities.