At Social we mix a big imagination with the determination to create effective work. We pride ourselves on really listening, being helpful, friendly and thoughtful; good old fashioned values. But best of all, at our core is a determination to demystify and deconstruct the whole process of what we do, putting things in everyday terms and being good communicators.
It’s easier to love a brand you understand.
Capital FM / Decca / Doubletree / Heart FM / Hilton Hotels / Merrell / Simon & Schuster / Think London / TK Maxx / Universal Music / YouthNet / Xfm
Hilton: Global Rebrand
Global Radio Group
Merrell:
Brand Awareness
Marston & Langinger:
Brand Refresh
Autonomy Music Group
and Decca Records
Hilton, an iconic global brand struggling to define its character and relevance in the 21st century, following years of change in ownership, management and culture.
In 2006, the United States based Hilton Hotels Corporation purchased the Hotels division of Hilton Group plc, making the brand one again for the first time in 40 years. Shortly after this, the Blackstone Private Equity Group purchased Hilton. Following these changes, Hilton embarked on their most comprehensive research to date getting feedback from Guests, team members and the corporate world to accompany competitor research for accurate insight into how to move forward as one brand.
In late 2009 Social were awarded the global rebrand of Hilton Hotels & Resorts. Our role was to define, design and deliver a relevant, clear and purposeful new brand that aligns around a new customer-centric promise worldwide. The new brand will begin to roll out in the second half of 2011 via a proprietary global online system complete with built in brand approval built by Tag Worldwide.
The Brand Today: Over 540 Hotels worldwide. Over 75 countries. Over
90 years at the forefront of global hospitality. The largest Hotel chain in
the world.
Our job, as Global Radio Group’s sole branding agency, was to craft the different station brands so they would coexist harmoniously in the minds of those all-important people: advertisers and listeners.
So first we set about refreshing the Heart brand to reflect its increased coverage of over 7 million listeners. Not easy when you a have a much-loved brand with a strong visual identity. Next, we got busy creating the main brand identity and campaign material for Capital FM’s major events the Jingle Bell Ball at the O2 and the annual Summertime Ball at Wembley. Attracting some of the biggest stars in the world, these needed to be fun, fresh and resonate far beyond their core teen audience.
Meanwhile, new guidelines were being designed and delivered to Xfm and now Classic FM is underway.
A fun, fast moving client.
“Social are a dream team from start to finish. They grasped the essence of the business, kept the message intact and found the balance between fun and formality.”
Global. CEO
For more than 26 years, Merrell has been providing outdoor enthusiasts with quality performance footwear and apparel.
As the needs of the outdoor enthusiast have changed, so too has Merrell's
approach to addressing those needs. As experts in their field they are expected to excel at outdoor performance footwear, but with the introduction of crossover footwear and a high street retail presence to what was otherwise a niche offering, the brand needs to communicate this without appearing to have forgotten its roots. The brand still maintains excellent quality and operates in a fairly narrow market enjoying fantastic brand loyalty despite suffering from poor awareness in Europe.
The brand was founded in the States and is still widely considered American, with much of it’s marketing communications, photography
and general art direction being conceived for a US market. As the brand
grows into more and more markets around the world there is an inevitable
need to more accurately target with locality.
We have been getting to know the brand with a plan to ultimately help achieve goals in European brand positioning. Campaign image examples are taken from brand videos, outdoor campaigns and marketing materials we’ve produced.
Founded over 30 years ago, Marston & Langinger are the
pre-eminent designer of the worlds finest garden rooms
and interiors.
Despite retaining it’s exacting standards and reputation, the brand itself had become somewhat fractured with a confusing hierarchy in what it actually designed and produced. The company offering has grown to include interiors, lighting, furniture and paints while also targeting different markets abroad, and so the USP of the company has become diluted.
Social were invited to help solve these problems, defining separate parts of the offering to create a clear, distinct customer journey.
We continue to collaborate with them as we help forge their brand philosophy, providing a system in graphic guidelines and tone of voice to help bring their story to life in an elegant and simple way.
This will continue to roll out throughout 2011 and 2012.
Over the years Social have been fortunate enough to have clients such as Autonomy Music who have allowed us to express ourselves in producing packaging, music videos and brands for bands. The audience is different, the challenge is different and the budgets are certainly different but it helps us retain freshness and there is a lot of fun to be had along the way.
The above are a selection of creative projects we’ve worked on with Autonomy and Universal/Decca, often for emerging talent but in some instances for more established artists.
Our role is to conceive, design, shoot, direct, post and deliver full campaigns to launch an artist/band online, on TV and in print.