Backstory
The client owns and manages several high end private golf courses across America. Three of these are located in particularly desirable locations; near Tucson, near San Diego and near Sonoma. The client’s vision was to establish a “guest of the Owner” club where a limited number of affluent golfers could apply for membership in a new brand entity, affording them not only membership in all three of these clubs, but also privileged access to global golf lifestyle experiences for members only
Mandate
To develop the new brand and to create materials to drive interest in membership.
Scope
Brand name, logo, tagline, stationery, website, membership folio and administrative documents.
Approach
We listened, learned and understood the opportunity for the client. The assets are in place. There is capacity for play, so other than the investment in these materials the client faced an opportunity to drive initiation income and incremental annual fee income with no cost. The brand needed to make a statement worthy of the opportunity. Drive interest and drive memberships. Icon Golf was born. Storied Courses and Exceptional Experiences.
To listen to what our key learnings from this assignment were please contact us.
We have crafted strategic vision documents and creative sales support tools for timeshare projects for this client in:
Miami, Florida (St. Regis) | Steamboat, CO (Sheraton) | Avon, CO (Westin) | Cancun, Mexico (Westin) | Phoenix, AZ (The Luxury Collection - The Phoenician) | Punta Mita, Mexico (St. Regis) | Co-brokerage collateral to drive broker interest across Starwood Vacation Ownership brands
Backstory
Starwood’s in-house creative department engaged r&d to develop sales collateral designed to drive timeshare tours at select destinations.
Mandate
For the most part we crafted print collateral to support the launch of timeshare sales in key resort destinations. Importantly, we respected Starwood brand standards for each brand they entrusted with us.
Scope
Destination “vision”, print sales collateral.
Approach
Working with the Sheraton, Westin, St. Regis and Luxury Collection brands each required a detailed understanding and respect of vocabulary, photography usage and application, design and font usage for each. It was imperative that we embrace each brand’s standards so there would be no dissonance between the work being developed in-house and the work being crafted by r&d..
To learn more about our key learnings from this assignment, please contact us.
Our work: San Diego, CA | Palm Springs, CA | Playa Blanca, Panama | London, England | Doha, Qatar | Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic | Daytona Beach, FL
We have crafted strategic vision documents and creative sales support tools for real estate projects in destinations around the world.
Backstory
Hard Rock Hotels is an exclusive global lifestyle brand that works hard to differentiate itself from the well-known Café brand. The in-house creative team at Hard Rock, through real estate developers, has approached us to help develop real estate support tools for both investor financing and end-consumer lead generation. Our role on every project has been tailored to the brand need.
Mandate
In this example in San Diego, we were entrusted with crafting sales support materials for 460 condo hotel units (Phase one sales: 300 units; Phase two sales: 160 units). In London and Doha we developed vision brochures to assist the brand in its attempt to secure financing. In Puerto Plata we facilitated a session blending the brand cultures of Hard Rock and Palace Resorts, as Hard Rock sought to launch its first all-inclusive. And in Daytona Beach we worked with the developer and brand to craft all sales support materials to drive awareness and contracts for the sale of 106 whole ownership residences.
Scope
Strategic planning, strategic session facilitation, investor presentations, real estate lead generation and sales conversion programs through innovative creative and strong brand understanding.
Approach
Each project is unique. Our expertise lies in our ability to respect the brand credo, to respect the brand guidelines and standards, and to apply our real estate experience to the specific opportunity to drive velocity while also building brand loyalty, understanding and value.
For information on other Hard Rock residential sales tools we have crafted, please contact us.
Backstory
An established Florida distributor of golf carts successfully negotiated a license with a South Korean manufacturer of electric vehicles to begin marketing and sales in the US.
Mandate
ryan&deslauriers was asked by the US entity to develop a new brand for the South Korean vehicle - to craft a name and positioning for the initial US test market that would be warm, approachable and appeal to Floridians living in gated and age-controlled communities.
Scope
Name, logo, tagline, sales show graphics, showroom graphics, stationery, website, launch brochure.
Approach
The brand we developed was Evolve.
The letters in Evolve can be rearranged to form LOVE EV. (EV for electric vehicle)
We developed a visual device where couples would hold out fingers - one person with three middle fingers placed sideways to make an E and the second person with their index and middle finger extended vertically to create a V, and we photographed a variety of target users flashing the “EV” finger salute.
The colors of orange and gray were used to communicate both technology and approachability.
To listen to what our key learnings from this assignment were please contact us.
Backstory
This project is located within a mixed-use enclave branded CityView ideally located on the main international airport road. CityView features a Four Seasons Hotel, with 48 one-and two-bedroom “pied-à-terre” residences above the hotel and a separate 60-residence tower featuring three-, four- and five-bedroom homes, an office tower, and specialty boutique retail.
At the time of engagement, the developer and the principal investor, Goldman Sachs, had been in the market for about one year, and the sales velocity was unacceptable to the investor.
Mandate
We were engaged by Goldman Sachs’ Archon Group to invest one week in Bangalore with the sales team and to audit the sales and marketing process. We delivered a 23-point plan to Goldman Sachs recommending where we believed the overall sales and marketing strategy could be refined, specifically to accelerate lead generation and sales conversion velocity.
We were then engaged by the developer to oversee the execution of these recommendations, over the course of a seven month period.
Scope
Strategic plan, sales pathing and team vocabulary, database management, photography shoot, website development, handout brochure, main sales brochure, print advertising, email template.
Approach
We worked with the sales and marketing team at the project development office in India for about one week each month over the seven months of the project and we facilitated weekly sales team calls. We crafted new, more sales driven creative and worked with the sales team on a more refined segmentation of leads, while revisiting the pathing of the sales process. At the end of our mandate, the sales team secured 21 sales contracts.
To learn more about our key learnings from this assignment, please contact us.
Backstory
The Nobu Restaurant at the Metropolitan Hotel in London has 100 seats and does $30 million a year in sales. In other words, each seat is worth $300k in annual sales; more revenue, for example, than many real estate projects can command. Nobu’s management team understood this principle: people don’t remember the room as much as they remember shared experiences…so don’t build a hotel then figure out the dining story - lead with the dining story and build the hotel “around” the unique dining experience and brand.
Mandate
We were approached by Nobu’s management team to craft the vision for the brand, to establish credibility and to provide the necessary materials to open doors to new opportunities. In a word - to launch the Nobu Hospitality brand
Scope
Brand logo, and logos for first two potential projects at Caesar’s Palace and Abu Dhabi. Stationery, launch website and launch brand brochure.
Approach
Clean. Liberal use of white space. Very upmarket.
Embrace the innovative restaurant brand vision and current “look”.
Embrace the management team led by Chef Nobu, Robert De Niro, Meir Teper as credibility, creativity and expertise.
Position the brand as the “must visit, go-to” experience for respected worldwide celebrities through testimonials.
The place to “see and be seen”.
To listen to what our key learnings from this assignment were please contact us.
Our work: Key West, FL | Puerto Rico | Beaver Creek, CO | Aspen, CO | St. George’s, Bermuda | Siesta Key, FL | Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (market audit) | Ka'anapali Beach, HI
Backstory
This example is a fractional Hyatt Residences in Aspen, Colorado. The strategy was simple. Those visitors in market are likely to be qualified - they like and can afford Aspen, and they have the ability to travel there, to enjoy the destination.
Mandate
The client developed a spectacular 5,000 square foot sales center, and the objective was to drive prospects to the sales center and to convert as many prospects as possible.
Scope
We were asked to develop print advertising for the local newspapers as well as some handout collateral. The key piece was a beautiful and comprehensive brochure designed to convert qualified prospects from a keen interest to a contract. The budget for the brochure was $100 each.
Approach
We printed 3,000 brochures. There were 1,000 fractions for sale. Each sales person was given three brochures at a time with instructions to only give brochure to qualified prospects and to target one sales contract per three brochures distributed. For each contract a salesperson would secure, she or he would be given three more brochures. We worked with three local photographers to develop a project specific light-box of incredible lifestyle, action sports and eclectic local architecture, with a budget of $30k for this stock library. Only three genuine leather covers could be sourced from each hide, at a cost of $84k for 3,000 books ($28 per book).
For information on other Hyatt Residences work we have crafted please contact us.
Backstory
Andaz is a high-end, lifestyle luxury hotel brand in the Hyatt portfolio. The Andaz hotel in Wailea (Maui, Hawaii) is a new resort targeting the creative class and upscale clientele seeking a boutique resort experience. The property features 12 whole ownership villas offered for sale.
Mandate
We were approached by Hyatt to provide sales materials to support the positioning and sale of the villas (sales objective $84 million).
Scope
Sales gallery within The Wailea Group sales office in The Shops of Wailea, website, video with custom soundtrack, complete stationery package, 24-page handout brochure, “Vision” lifestyle and amenities brochure, “Workbook." We also facilitated design of project renderings, site plans and floorplans.
Approach
Andaz has very distinct brand standards for the hotel which were important to consider in crafting the creative. We developed all sales support tools with a keen respect for Andaz brand design elements, while also ensuring the residential whole ownership message (vs. a hotel “operations” message) and reasons to own were front and center.
To learn more about our key learnings from this assignment, please contact us.
Tremblant, Quebec | Blue Mountain, Ontario | Muskoka, Ontario | Stratton, Vermont | Mountain Creek, New Jersey | Sandestin, Florida | Snowshoe, West Virginia | Orlando, Florida | Les Arcs, France
Backstory
In 1996 in Mont Tremblant, Quebec Intrawest launched its first real estate development project in eastern Canada and ryan&deslauriers opened for business at the base of the mountain. From 1996 to 2008, r&d crafted real estate sales support materials for over 80 Intrawest Placemaking and independent developer projects sold by Playground (Intrawest’s wholly-owned sales organization) throughout Canada, the USA and France.
Mandate
Work with Playground to develop strategic communication plans and a suite of sales support tools to brand, position, market and drive qualified leads for their sales teams.
Scope
If the sales team required it to sell, we crafted it. Sales environments, team training, websites, emails, collateral, wine labels for special events, launch event graphics, you name it.
Approach
Listen. Do. Deliver. Outperform.
To know more about our experiences in more than 80 Intrawest / Playground projects, please contact us.
Backstory
We were approached by Churchgate Group, developer of the World Trade Center, to re-design the Churchgate corporate website (www.churchgate.com) and to develop a story and sales materials for the mixed-use site in Abuja, capital of Nigeria, the fifth most populated country in thee world.
Mandate
Position and lunch the WTC Abuja brand, to drive interest and sales / leasing.
Scope
Churchgate corporate website, handout and main brochure for residential and office space offerings, print advertising, on-site signage.
Approach
We conducted a strategy session in Lagos and Abuja, and visited the site.
We identified placed a sales team leader for the project with Churchgate so that broker relationships and a sales strategy could be put in place. This team leader stayed on the project for the first 6 months of sales / phase one.
We developed creative approaches in an onsite charette setting, to accelerate and shorten the creative development period.
To learn more about our key learnings from this assignment, please contact us.
We have crafted logos for luxury resort destinations for this client in: Sicily,Italy (2); Botswana, Africa (3); Brazil; Peru (2); Myanmar (1)
Backstory
Orient-Express is a global, venerable brand (recently re-branded as Belmond), with 30+ luxury boutique hotels, river cruises and trains in its portfolio. Their goal is not to be a “chain” but rather encourage each destination to retain its own brand, personality, local flavor, right down to the choice of toiletries used.
Mandate
As Orient-Express acquired or launched new destinations between 2003 and 2012 (prior to Belmond re-branding), they would keep the name of the property they acquired (or in the case of their Myanmar river cruise experience, developed internally), however they approached us to craft a new logo that would be in keeping with the overall Orient-Express portfolio “look and feel”.
Scope
Logo development.
Approach
At the time of Belmond rebranding, we had designed 9 of the 30 or so Orient-Express brands in existence. Our design direction would be to embrace the overall romantic, breezy, legacy aesthetic that defined an Orient-Express brand, while also embracing the unique personality of the destination and luxury experience.
To listen to what our key learnings from this assignment were please contact us.
