The Story

I recently had the chance to stay at the Nordic Hotel Forum in Tallin, Estonia - a new, hip, modern hotel. I was really impressed by the way the hotel stayed true to its brand through their interior design choices. They had a clear nature theme, which contrasted (pleasantly) with the sleek, modern architecture and furniture. The use of nature elements was consistent throughout the entire hotel, often showing up in unusual and unexpected ways.

A few examples:

• Carpets in different areas of the hotel look like cobblestones, flowers, or grass

• Illustrations of birds, seen on the website and in printed materials, are illuminated cut-outs identifying each room number

• There’s an opaque glass wall with a huge flower separating the bathroom from the bedroom

• One wall of the bathroom tiles are flowered

• Headboards have large leaf images

• Coat racks in the restaurant look like small trees

…there are so many examples, it’s impossible to mention them all.

This is a successful example of a hotel who’s figured out what their brand is about, and has found unique and interesting ways to translate that into multiple touch points, making for a memorable, pleasant and relevant experience.

Incorporating your brand into your bank branches or credit union locations isn’t hard…just make sure that whatever you do honestly and accurately proves your story. Don’t just do something to be hip (after all, there’s enough banks out there saying they want to look like Starbucks) - do it because it will clearly and effectively tell your brand’s story and create a more meaningful banking experience for your customers. (Peek into an Umpqua branch sometime, they’ve done a great job channeling their brand through interior design).

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 2:36 pm and is filed under Bank Branding, Branding, Credit Union Branding, Bank Marketing, Touch points, Umpqua Bank Marketing & Branding, Starbucks Branding & Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.