Service
Brand definition and articulation
Capabilities
Cultural research
Consumer insights
Brand modelling
Manifesto
Creative guiding principles
Duration
3 months
Challenge
Ideas fizz about, full of energy and potential. How to capture them without losing their magic, in order to build a compelling narrative for a new hotel brand.
Approach
Three simple words to capture a wealth of emotion and insight: ‘free to be’. A big idea, discovered by spending quality time with the hotel’s visionary owners and architects, and by digging deep to understand Cycladic culture and history.
Our client
Kanava Hotels & Resorts is a luxury hospitality group founded by Antonis Eliopoulosand and Kalia Konstantinidou in 1993. Its portfolio now holds seven hotels across three destinations in the Cyclades and the Peloponnese. Three of its hotels belong to The Luxury Collection – a selection of the world’s finest hotels and resorts. The duo’s hotels regularly win awards and accreditations, including Condé Nast Traveller’s Readers’ Choice Awards.
Cosme would be their third location on the island of Paros, the quintessentially Greek island, rich with Cycladic history and less discovered than Santorini or Mykonos. It is famous for its calm and refined atmosphere, whitewashed fishing villages, serene landscapes and beaches, and eclectic dining scene.
THE CHALLENGE
The five-star hotel would be launched in time for the 2022 season – an exciting opportunity for post Covid travel, it was a vital moment for the travel industry to tell a fresh and more meaningful story. The vision for the hotel was crystal clear in the owners’ minds, which the architects had used as foundations for their distinctive concept. The stage was set for the brand.
What was the brand’s story to travellers, trade and talent? Why should people come and stay at Cosme – what made it so special? What kind of experience should guests expect? How would we articulate the unique location, atmosphere and architecture?
The name of the hotel was set, but there were minimal visual or verbal identity elements for the brand. How should the brand look, feel, speak and behave throughout the guest experience?
ACHIEVEMENTS
We defined and articulated the key ideas at the heart of this brand and connected them all in a simple one-page model, ensuring it was carefully aligned with all key stakeholders, and captured the simple brand promise: “At Cosme, you are free to be.”
As our client said in one of our first conversations, “The time is right to celebrate life and feel free.” The pandemic had left us thirsty for freedom and community. For the joy of human encounters, unexpected discoveries, unplanned wanderings. Thirsty to be together again. And to simply be ourselves. Free from the expectations and pressures we had all experienced. Free to understand our new selves, emerging from the transformative shock of the last two years. It seemed this was the perfect time to embrace the ethos: “free to be”.
Cosme offered this freedom. Spilling onto the sand and azure waters of its own private beach, guests were surrounded by nature, free to step into it. Moments away from the bustling town of Naoussa, guests could easily enjoy the town’s increasingly cosmopolitan upbeat vibe, before recovering in the pool, spa or hotel gardens. The architectural design created an arrangement of spaces to gather and spark chance conversations, whilst also offering havens of escape and individuality. Within the interiors, artefacts and artworks spark curiosity, telling the story of Paros, its people and the merchants, saints and artists who made the island their home.
With the key brand ideas articulated and connected, we started to unpack the Cosme story, building visual and verbal tone and personality. We worked closely with the creative team, making the connections between the brand’s strategy and its expression, building an accompanying guide of creative principles.
This project was a sprint, with the positioning and identity completed in 3 months, in time for the start of the 2022 season. The launch was a huge success, seeing Cosme fully booked over the summer months. It has already received many recognitions in publications including Forbes, Condé Nast Traveller, WSJ Magazine, and the Financial Times’ How to Spend It.
Learning: listening
Strategy is a practise. It’s not a formula, it’s a method. Asking the right questions – and listening hard to the answers is key. This isn’t about transcripts and recordings, it’s about understanding the emotions behind the words. It means making the emotional investment to build the trust, openness and empathy required for a real conversation. It means creating time within the process, even if it’s a sprint, to talk, to share ideas, to understand, and to build together. If we can say at the end of a project “These ideas are all yours” we have done our job, and listened properly!
‘The hotel has coined the motto “free to be”, and I ask you has there ever been a better, or more needed, time to wholeheartedly embrace this ethos?’
Condé Nast Traveller
