BESIX STAY is a joint venture between A-STAR Group and BESIX Group, formed in march 2018 to revolutionize the city stay experience. The company wanted to create a new STAY formula worldwide, with all the modern and high tech needs for the next generation.
Here’s how we developed a new narrative, branding and pre-opening strategy that was needed to align the brand with its future audience and what they value most.
When A-STAY reached out to us, they only gave us a name and basic intention. Together, it was our mission to create a pre-opening strategy that would get A-STAY directly into the heads of the target audience: investors, possible employees and of course: future customers. And this last group is hard to convince nowadays.
Few markets are more competitive than the hospitality market. So, how do you set yourself apart from other strong competitors? A-STAY really wanted to make an impact. So this challenged us to flourish and come up with a unique story while simultaneously finding investors, possible employees and even future customers.
When it came to building the narrative, we wanted to create something that was one of a kind, as well as essential in the hospitality world today. We needed to build a brand strategy that didn’t just look good on paper, but also delivered on their business objectives, before A-STAY even opened its doors. Our focus was on personalization. We’ve developed a creative concept where we defined different kinds of stays for all kinds of people.
A-STAY needed a straight-forwarded brand positioning. Sometimes you don’t need to look that far. A-STAY will be omnipresent in various cities worldwide. The city is our playground, ready to be explored at your own pace. Et voila, ‘Unfold the city’ was born. The baseline created a new, blank canvas for an interesting story and branding.
We enriched the brand name with a logo, a set of colors and a rich image library. We also introduced an exciting set of brand elements in the form of business cards, stationery, merchandising and a brochure. Based on the baseline, branding and story we created the right mood and atmosphere to build an outstanding mini-website.
The personal experience A-STAY offers, needed to be present in every communication. We came up with an impressive amount of icons (52!) related to all kinds of stays. The icons became the basis for the brand identity and came alive in merchandising, signage and room design.
And we did go a step further. We believed in a strategy where we recruit local ambassadors with different kinds of background and different interests. These digital nomads know what’s happening in the city and are asked to share their hidden gems and personal hotspots. If visitors go to the website to book their stay, they are asked to specify their reason for a stay. Based on these preferences, they get in touch with their local ambassador who can guide them through an unforgettable city-stay. It’s the customer who decides whether her or she goes for a wild stay, a romantic or a business stay. All personalized.
We also delivered a pitch for the interior design, to ensure that the brand identity would align with the actual physical brand. Because interior trends are always evolving – and personalization by the traveler is key – we designed a functional room which is easy adaptable to the needs of the visitor. In other words, visitors can personalize their room in a snap.
Our work with A-STAY placed a strong emphasis on building the story and visual brand. But at the heart of our ideas, we provided something vital: a plan to attract and connect to the right community. This project is still being implemented as we speak.