In 2013, American Airlines completed a major rebrand — new livery, new identity, new in-flight product — with one significant problem: the new design existed almost entirely on paper. Repainting and refitting an entire fleet of aircraft takes years. The press reveal, however, could not wait.

They needed to put the fleet before the public, realistically and compellingly, before a single real aircraft had been touched. That problem landed on my desk.

I was Creative Director at Smart Cookie, a small digital studio in Surrey that had been building a reputation for photorealistic, interactive 3D experiential work. Our proposal: put the entire fleet in service, virtually, in record time.

What followed was one of the most technically complex projects I've worked on — and one of the most instructive.