Integrating solid cultural insights, Labbrand develops hotel branding strategy and creative assets for MHI and its brands, setting foundation for its successful entry in the Asia-Pacific markets.

RE-ENVISION FOR NEW GROWTH

Meliá Hotels International (MHI), the fast-growing Spanish luxury hotel chain with leadership in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean wants to further expand its international presence, especially in the Asia-Pacific Region. How to not only enter a new market, but also rapidly build a presence in Asia-Pacific? MHI has come to Labbrand, a proven expert in rebranding international companies for APAC markets, for a comprehensive solution.
 

UNDERSTANDING THE MHI BRANDS

The MHI group has a diverse selection of hotel chains. What do these brands stand for? Understanding their global positioning is the starting point for localization. We looked at the core brand values and defendable strengths of each brand on a global level, and the competitive offerings and audience needs at a local level for each brand under MHI. With this knowledge, we could develop each brand’s value propositions in a way that is relevant to target APAC consumers.

MAPPING THE TARGET AUDIENCES

It goes without saying that it’s of critical importance to understand the differences between the chain’s usual European and Latin American clientele and its new Asia-Pacific clientele. Our in-house research team utilized research approaches including population segmentation, cultural analysis and semiotic analysis to map the target markets in China, Indonesia and Malaysia, which plays a key role in developing our award winning strategy and visual assets.
 

OPENING NEW PERSPECTIVES

By integrating cultural insights into our strategy development, we generated and finalized meaningful brand positioning strategies for the MHI group as well as its two main brands Gran Meliá and Meliá Hotels.

Based on the brand positioning, our naming and design team created impactful verbal and visual assets for Gran Meliá and Meliá Hotels. “Awakening to fresh perspectives and discovering the world anew” – the strong, inspirational concept puts a subtle emphasis on MHI’s extensive network of hotels bridging a diversity of cultures and markets, setting strong foundation for the creative work.