THE CLIENT
An 80-bedroom hotel located a short drive from Kilkenny city centre, popular for both tourists and locals alike, known for its friendly and helpful staff.
In early 2019 what was known as Aspect Hotel Kilkenny completed a major renovation to their lobby, restaurant and meeting rooms. With a new look it was the perfect opportunity to develop an entirely new brand. Aspect Hotel Kilkenny became The Hoban Hotel.
NEW BRAND
This was a hugely interesting project from the very beginning. The client wanted to rely on a professional agency to develop a new brand. We were given a lot of freedom but one instruction we were given was to pay homage to Kilkenny.
It was obvious where we had to start, with the name of course! We researched Kilkenny’s vibrant history and came across the native James Hoban, the architect who designed The White House.
Aspect Hotel Kilkenny has always been known for the friendliness of its staff. It was important the new menus, colours and fonts that were chosen allowed them to show off their quirky and social personality.
NEW WEBSITE
With a new brand comes a new website! A hotel website should show guests exactly what to expect when staying.
We designed the new website to be simple, informative, and image-focused. Incorporating a clear top navigation menu, it’s easy to find what you are looking for. To get people in the door you need to show them who and what you are. Our next step was clear to us; new photographs.
We arranged a trip to Kilkenny with our photographer, having already planned the website structure and written brand-new engaging content, the next step was to capture photographs that would further enhance each page.
On the day we took photos of their gorgeous new lobby, facilities, food and drink. If The Hoban Hotel was to continue to be known for their friendly and social personality it made sense to get the team involved! Along with a member of the Sprint Digital team or two who were the ‘guest’ models for the day.
Of course, while showcasing the new look of the hotel we couldn’t forget the website’s main goal – to get people to book directly on the website over the online travel agents. A clear call to action is obvious on every page and clearly shows off their best rate guarantee.
NEW ADS
We had to ensure that from the day of the launch guests could still find the hotel online. Some users would be searching for our old brand name and be unable to find the website, and while other’s might know our new name but we would not be appearing on the 1st page of Google yet.
Since building the new website and launching the new brand The Hoban Hotel has seen an increase in direct bookings, overall campaign performance as well as visitors happily spending more time on site.
By investing in SEO and blogging The Hoban Hotel is now ranking number one for their brand name.
TAKEAWAYS
Clear brand identity will bring your business to life and create an emotional connection with your audience. Your brand should have a clear and distinct message which becomes one and the same with your services.
Your brand both online and offline needs to be consistent if you’re considering a rebrand it’s vital that your website and online presence get a revamp alongside it.
