Bring Yourself
west elm Hotels
Defining the brand’s purpose, positioning and messaging.
While working with west elm we were able to create a brand strategy that became the foundation for an anthem film, their website, everything.
One key insight—‘When you feel like you don’t belong somewhere, you leave’—led us to the differentiating position for a hotel: ‘The greatest comfort is the freedom to be yourself.’
To articulate this positioning, we created a website that introduced the values of the new brand to potential investors and a short film inspired by the traditional question guests have for their hosts—“what should I bring?” When you travel to a west elm Hotel, the answer will always be: Bring Yourself.
With the Bring Yourself anthem film, we strived to put potential investors into the mindset of travelers. It's just like staying at your most hospitable friend's house—and you can even bring your dog.
A new kind of hotel development.
We created a website that introduced potential investors to a new kind of hotel development opportunity from west elm. Our website reached out to investors as partners, bringing the brand’s high-end design aesthetic to life as an invitation to join an amazing opportunity.
We integrated newly shot footage, stock imagery, and user generated content into an immersive depiction of the Hotel experience. In the local section, all of the content is pulled from the accounts of real Instagram users who live in and love the neighborhoods where west elm Hotels will be located. Real world content was key to building an authentic look that was true to place—establishing west elm’s mission to respect and accentuate the local experience.
View the west elm Hotels website.
Agency: Digital Kitchen
Creative Direction: Anthony Vitagliano
Creative Direction / Art Direction: Kelly Dorsey
Strategy: Marton Harsanyi
Account Director: Kendall Shearer
Executive Producer: Colin Davis
Website Design: JT Helms
Script: Matt Cowen
Editor: Camille Durand