The Task
Employment within hospitality is incredibly transient. People working in hospitality have surprisingly low awareness of their charity or its work. Even more surprising, a large majority of people didn’t even identify themselves as working in hospitality.
Recognised for our charity expertise, our campaigns have been successful in highlighting the challenges people face including mental health issues, addiction, serious illness and financial difficulties. With a new CEO and Marketing Director, HA asked us to take their brand into a new direction.
What we did
We began by targeting those who were career minded and committed to the industry; a group we loosely termed as middle management. The brand refresh had three main objectives: define the industry, communicate the charity’s role and tell the people in Hospitality that Hospitality Action is here for them.
Working closely with the new Marketing Director, we helped shape HA’s new brand positioning ‘We’ve got you.’ This gave us a great starting point for an identity that is direct, positive and approachable. With a clear tone of voice and a suite of ownable graphic elements, HA’s new visual language gives the brand a fun and recognisable presence across multiple platforms.
Our creative approach used genuine people from all areas of the industry; we wanted to put hospitality people right at the heart of the brand. So we collaborated with Park Plaza, Westminster, and HA’s industry photographer to shoot people from all walks of life; from chefs and concierge to front of house, security guards and sommeliers to catering managers. We also included the occasional appearance from a celebrity chef or two, to help drive awareness even further.
Impact
The new identity was launched at a Patrons dinner attended by key supporters of the charity in June 2019 and now starts its wide-reaching journey through trade media, social media, events and influencer engagement.
We’ve already seen an overwhelmingly positive response from the launch of the campaign with many new suppliers, venues and other related businesses supporting Hospitality Action by helping to drive awareness, donations and getting involved with new initiatives.
