Orange origins
Joining a start-up can be a risky career move, especially when the company happens to be an airline. Thomas Haynes speaks to Tony Anderson about the time he made the leap from his job at Thomas Cook to become employee number three at a fledgling carrier called easyJet
Tony Anderson was the low-cost carrier's third employee. He joined in 1995 as director of marketing and would later go on to assume that role for easyGroup
VIA AUTHOR
Tony Anderson’s involvement with easyJet began in 1995 when a lunch meeting was arranged with the Greek-Cypriot entrepreneur, Stelios Haji-Ioannou. After an hour-long talk – which involved a barrage of questions and the delivery of a detailed business plan – he accepted the position of director of marketing, becoming the third employee of the brand-new carrier.
“There were plenty of people who said I was crazy,” recalled Anderson, who was speaking to Airliner World from his home near Cambridge.
“I’ve always believed that the time to take risks is when you’re young as you have the most opportunity to learn from them, so that was really driving my decision.”
Colour choice
By all accounts, easyJet has a very strong brand identity which is supported by the use of a specific shade of orange. In fact, you simply have to show most people the colour and they will be able to identify which company it belongs to.