Express by Holiday Inn
Successfully meeting a challenging brief for a major hotel brand
Testimonial content
Express by Holiday inn Cheltenham
Testimonial content
Express by Holiday inn Cheltenham
This project involved responsibility for branding a major new Cheltenham hotel, as well as associated photography, a website and offline marketing collateral. Our involvement began with a call that could be paraphrased as follows: “We’re building a hotel; what do we need for interim website and marketing?”
When a brand as prominent as Holiday Inn is involved, you have to be good to be invited to pitch. We were approached by hotel development group, Premier Circuit Hotels, who needed a website and marketing collateral for a new project in Cheltenham. In particular, they needed to support the marketing of the project, create local awareness and promote the brand behind it.
The Express Hotel was still under construction at the time of the approach; the client wanted the website to be ready for when it opened. The site also had to perform well in the search engines – in a search category renowned for its competitiveness. Armed with the brief and a clear understanding of Premier Circuit Hotels’ expectations, we set about building a simple, yet visually stimulating web presence. The resulting design was flexible so it could grow with the hotel and maximise search engine visibility from the start.
To complement bespoke web design and search engine optimisation, we also integrated and set up the site’s ‘Key-Res’ reservation system, the Google API map feature, broadcast email, site visitor data capture and a custom contact form. This online work was complemented by graphic design for local magazine advertising (Visit Cheltenham Guide 2008), a Cheltenham map advert and a large advertising banner that shrouded a wall of the hotel overlooking a busy Cheltenham street. Working on a complete integrated marketing programme like this was a very rewarding challenge.
An added requirement was the hotel product photography. Despite being done well before the building’s completion, this had to depict a busy ‘live’ hotel. Resourcefulness, careful set building, appropriate styling and a population of ‘guests’ ensured the required realism – and the results an exceptionally demanding client needed.
Our interim website, along with the impressive exterior banners, has long since been replaced with the adoption of the hotel by the Express at Holiday Inn brand. But the sense of achievement and satisfaction for a complex job well-done lives on. If you need to combine online and offline collateral with photography and graphic design, call +44 (0)20 8144 6627 or email us to arrange your no-obligation consultation.