Hilton Hotels came to The Brandcenter and tasked three teams with creating a new food and beverage concept.
My team had the winning idea and we’ve been told the concept will be produced by the hotelier.
“When was the last time you went to a hotel bar?”
The client and further research told us most people went because they were trapped - they had to go there.
The Brief
Create a new brand for a customer winning food and beverage concept/experience which can be easily repeated across hundreds of locations across the country.
Target
Female solo travelers - one of the largest growing travel segments.
Insight
Solo female travelers face fear frequently on their journeys.
Strategy
Inspire women to venture fearlessly.
And we’ll do this by creating a space that protects from those fears becoming reality so they can leave with some we all want from any trip - to have a cool story worth telling.
The Manifesto
The heart of Hilton’s next food and beverage concept.
*Sample locations to be rolled out in “second cities,” such as Salt Lake City, Savannah, and Austin.
The Concept
“A charming library serving intriguing cocktails, thoughtful dishes from locally sourced ingredients and creators, with an atmosphere where you’d expect to see Jeff Goldblum having a conversation with Amy Winehouse as Chuck Berry plays lowly in the background. ”
Why a library?
A space which inspires the perfect behavior
for our concept.
Brand/Customer Experience
Guests will be greeted with imagery, typography, and stylings that evoke the inherent intellectualism associated with literature while feeling inspired from the wealth of stories surrounding them. And they’ll soon learn this is no ordinary library.
The Space
The Narrative provides a space for nearly any occasion. Work, play, both, or neither. Customers will have a place to get things done, unwind, try something new, or get away to recenter themselves. Maybe they’ll even read a page or two.
Bartending
To defeat the threats and fears associated with the bar, we’ll do away with it, or at least the seating and congregating nature of it. A drink can be ordered here but is encouraged to be taken to any of the many seating areas.
For a truly unique experience, guests can have a craft cocktail concocted right where they’re sitting with the bar cart service. Customers only need to fill out a drink card and a waiter/bartender will come to them.
Full Service Dining
For those guests looking to have a more traditional meal, The Narrative will accommodate with a familiar but far from expected dining area, complete with a full service menu (story themed, of course) and an open kitchen to observe the culinary storytelling.
Ads & Extensions
Playful out-of-home, sponsored cocktail/culinary classes and events on AirBnB, bookmarks inserted into novels at airport book stores, and a feature-rich, in-flight magazine offering culinary, lifestyle, and other experiences worth stepping out for.
Leave Behind
A fitting departure containing our research and presentation for the client to relay back to his team: A USB stick, under the guise of a skeleton key, housed in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Art Director: Chloe Friedman
Creative Brand Manager: Rober Clark
Experience Designer: Megan Reilly
Strategist: Caitlin Russell
Strategist: Kate Fallon