Tag: hospitality

Tagline: Your 15 Minutes

Bar tagline: A world gone fabulous.

Positioning Statement: Everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes, or at least feel like it the moment they step in the doors of the latest pop art sensation, Hotel Helix. High style blended with popular pleasures to form a work of art that elevates the guest experience to something worthy of a museum.

Brand Story:
“Everything is beautiful. Pop is everything.” — Andy Warhol

In the center of DC, you are the center of the universe. There is nothing more important than you at Helix. It’s appealing to everyone, but feels as if it’s designed just for you. From high class to lowbrow, everything here is designed to turn your head. Welcome to the newest pop sensation, The Hotel Helix in Washington DC.

Strobing lights greet you as you make your grand entrance. But you’re familiar with that sort of treatment from your adoring public and the demanding paparazzi, or at least you’re not going to give anyone around a reason to think otherwise as you stroll into center stage to check-in.

Look around. You’ve walked out of the real world and into the hottest spread from this month’s Surface.

Bouncy tunes, a lavish chandelier held up with a construction wench and sumptuous furniture occupied by stylish tourists all compete for your attention. Strut down the black and white runway hallway to the elevator and ride up to your personal pad.

A collage of anything and everything to make you at home, we’ll put you on a multicolored pedestal complete with cozy furniture and a private bed nook to facilitate your escape from the outside world when the pressures of fame are too much to bear. But when you’re ready to make your presence known, put in a guest appearance at the Helix Lounge, a chameleon-like cafe that changes to suit your mood and makes the perfect backdrop for your brilliance. Where better to be discovered than sipping a glowing cocktail perched on a sleek stool?

Nothing is common and everyday, even those things you see every day. If a can of soup can be a work of art, so can a pillow, a nightlight or a bottle of bubble bath. Brightly colored and bursting with energy and sound, the guest experience at Helix is more than a stay, it’s a true work of pop art.

From the threshold to your pillow and all points in between, The Helix is your fifteen minutes of fame. Enjoy it while it lasts.

If Hotel Helix were…

• If it were a work of art, it would be a piece by Roy Liechtenstein.
• If it were a piece of literature, it would be the Cosmo Quiz.
• If it were a celebrity, it would be Andy Warhol.
• If it were a drink, it would be Yoo-hoo and DiSarno amaretto served in a colored tumbler.
• If it were a vehicle, it would be a mustard-colored Mini Cooper.
• If it had an arch nemesis, it would be the paparazzi.

Client: Kimpton Hotel Group

Property: Madera (proposed positioning and identity)

Tagline: Between Destination and Destiny.

Positioning Statement: Mysterious, dark and a little bit sexy, Madera captures the classic masculinity, bold style and hard-boiled flair of a film noir detective picture.

Brand Story: In the city of Washington DC, there are many hotels. Each of them with a story to tell. But none so compelling as the story of Madera.

At Madera, the men are men and the women are irresistible vixens with a gun in their fishnets. The smell of rain on pavement hangs in the air almost as heavily as the style in the atmosphere. Sipping Scotch on the rocks, guests stare from sleek, cozy rooms out at the bustling metro of downtown DC below. This is the Hotel Madera.

Film Noir at heart, the play of light and shadow, style and substance and relaxation and seduction are designed to captivate and enrapture the traveler looking for a metro getaway.

Waking up below the dark wooden headboard into the sleek, confident room, guests wake in the sultry atmosphere of film noir. Understated style coupled with the finest amenities and adornments give every modern-day Sam Spade a space any gumshoe would envy and any femme fatale would want to stop by for a drink.

At the door, there’s a knock. Destiny calling? Or just the coffee press and morning paper brought every morning to kick-start the day. A grapefruit and a French roast — the perfect accompaniment for thumbing through the paper looking for leads, events and the occasional crossword. Slipping into polished shoes and gray trench coats, guests prepare to leave their sanctuary from the city bustle and enjoy the town all around.

Rich, textured hallways lead to the elevator. An attendant waits, addressing each guest by name. This is more than an elevator operator. This man in the red and gold coat acts as casual concierge, giving directions, tips and gossip on the ride down to the lobby and back again.

Narrow lobby leads to street. The front desk attendant hands over a message — she’s not a clerk, she’s every guest’s personal assistant. Ready with a smile, a switchboard and a message pad, she makes every day go a little smoother from behind her swank desk.

Guests step from the front door from their film noir existence to arrive in the center of the capital city. Sound a little too upbeat for film noir? Well, in a way, there are no happy endings at Madera. After all, everyone will eventually have to check out.

If Hotel Madera were…

• If it were a person, it would be Humphrey Bogart.
• If it were a piece of literature, it would be a paperback copy of “Get Shorty”
• If it were a film, it would be LA Confidential.
• If it had a girlfriend, she would be a blond vixen femme fatale with an up-do.
• If it were a fictional character, it would be Sam Spade.
• If it were directed in Hollywood, Howard Hawks would make it.
• If it were a vehicle, it would be dark gray 1948 Packard.
• If it were a work of art, it would be the Maltese falcon.