An agency that puts how a brand ‘feels’ at the heart of all it does has been behind the recent brand refresh by UK hotel group, Exclusive Collection, who this month unveiled a new website enhancing the guest and member experience across its seven country house hotels and estates and welcomed new Midlands location, Ansty Hall, into the fold.
BrandSensory®, a specialist brand agency that deploys a sensory-led approach to create authentic, memorable brand experiences, has been working with the hotel group since April 2022 on the revised brand strategy. Led by industry veteran Gerri Hansen, the work was designed to capture the essence of family-owned Exclusive Collection, provide clarity and distinctiveness for the brands within the group, and position the company for continued growth and success.
The work involved a thorough audit of the 27-strong house of brands within Exclusive Collection’s framework, exploring existing brand perceptions, attributes and assets. After which followed a programme of sensory-led workshops, research and development from which BrandSensory® was able to devise a revised segment-led architecture, redesigning each brand distinctively within a connected framework, united by the overarching company values and purpose.
Key elements of the new brand strategy include:
A focus on guest experience over product, as seen in a series of sensory-led brand films, new immersive website, refreshed identities and interior design cues across the Collection, notably the reimagination of Ansty Hall.
Bespoke sensory profiles for each property to inform design, experience, and product offerings across the group and strengthen memorability, loyalty and referral.
Redesigned propositions and brand attributes linking the brands but providing distinctive marketing territories for each within the group.
New key messages that reinforce each property’s distinctive products and experiences.
Revised story-led brand guidelines designed to celebrate authenticity and story-telling within each property, with briefings to all staff to deepen ambassadorship.
New tone-of-voice characteristics and guidelines designed to create more human and friendly relationship with guests, with copywritten brand stories to support marketing activations.
Stephanie Hall, Group Director of Sales & Marketing , says:
“We wanted a fresh approach that would help us to articulate the unique characteristics of our properties. Our guests are increasingly discerning, and so we are always looking to innovate in our sector and offer them something more, better. The BrandSensory approach is so refreshing, allowing us to tell our story genuinely but challenge us too, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the process as much as the output.”
Gerri Hansen, founder and director of BrandSensory® said:
“This work was so rewarding. The group of brands had a huge opportunity to stand out in the marketplace and often competed against each other.
The work we have done now lays the ground for a new kind of experience between brand and customer, one which has many opportunities for meaningful connection and memorability."
"By crafting distinctive sensory attributes we’ve been able to create richly compelling narratives and stimulus across the Collection – and I’m looking forward to what will follow as the strategy embeds further into the guest experience.”
BrandSensory® is an independent consultancy. Their unique approach takes learnings from neuroscience to build, codify and embed sensory-led strategies and experiences for brands to drive memorability, loyalty and deeper customer relationships.
Following a visual identity and name change in Summer 2019, Exclusive Collection felt there was an opportunity to better articulate each of the hotels’ rich histories and distinct product offerings and the business’ central purpose of ‘creating happiness in amazing places’. Having engaged BrandSensory in April 2022, the work culminates in the creation of a series of sensory-led brand films, new immersive website and, most recently, the design approach for the redesigned Ansty Hall, which has benefited from Gerri’s unique approach in crafting distinctive brand experiences on property as well as on paper.
Credited: ‘Eat, Shoot and Leaves for Exclusive Collection’
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