Too often the thought of travel evokes images of electronic kiosks, snaking check-in lines, mediocre room service and 3.4-ounce limitations on liquid toiletries. What ever happened to dressing in your Sunday’s best for a trip to the country? Being greeted by name at an unfamiliar hotel?
I’m not sure either.
Lucky for us, the Elysian is opening in Chicago. What is the Elysian, you ask? Well, it is a luxury hotel and private residences, which is dedicated to reviving the bygone era when travel was synonymous with luxury. When hotels were built with architectural significance. And when guests took prompt attention from numerous staff for granted.
For the past three years I have had the pleasure of helping brand the Elysian’s flagship location. I created the “Elysian Voice,” which is used throughout all of the hotel collateral and marketing materials – from the brand book to the luggage tag.
Brand Book
David Pisor, the President and CEO of the Elysian, asked for a brand book to capture the essence of his first hotel. He now uses the 56-page book when discussing his vision for the property with investors from all over the world.
These day-of-the-week ads ran in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal on the corresponding day. The purpose of the ads was to illustrate that every day is remarkable at the Elysian. Of course, since the actual hotel did not exist when these ran, we had to use words instead of imagery to make our point.
Magazine Insert
The Elysian is a 60-story hotel and private residences. To add to the anticipation of its arrival in Chicago, this magazine insert was placed in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times Magazine and the Chicago Tribune. Titled “60 Stories,” the insert illustrated what life will be like at the Elysian through a collection of stories.
This insert is responsible to selling two Elysian residences, which is a remarkable story into itself seeing as the homes start at a cool 4.6 million.
Construction Site Signage
The 60 stories concept was extended into the construction site signage. As passers by walked past the signs on Rush and Walton, they were greeted by large imagery and stories of experiences and could happen at the Elysian. What is more, the signage was interactive. There were peepholes revealing secret messages, recipe cards with a signature Elysian dessert and dance step instructions accompanied by music.
Website
The hotel website scrolls from left to right to emulate what it will be like to walk through the hotel. To view the site yourself, click here.
Luggage Tag
To uphold the brand personality within the hotel itself, we added, “smile statements” to some of the collateral. After all, being gracious and friendly is the essence of an outstanding hotel.
Laundry Tag
Breakfast Menu Door Hanger
Bookmark
