Head On

ONE OFF WONDER VS CHAIN REACTION

Head on, July 2007, COMMENTS

Graven Images’ Jim Hamilton and GMP’s Neil Morten discuss the pros and cons of rolling out a brand - and discover that the best approach is far from black and white

Jim Hamilton:

There’s a popular leisure industry misconception that ‘brand’ refers to a chain of similar venues - an estate of Wetherspoons pubs, for example, or the chain of Living Room bars.

But, actually, a ‘brand’ can be a single venue. Put simply, a ‘brand’ is the symbolic embodiment of all the information connected to a venture - expressed through a venue’s name and logo, the signage, the look and feel, the people, the service, the food and drink. A good brand doesn’t have to be complex: it can simply be about cheap drinks in a backstreet joint but delivered well with a bit of attitude. When an operator is running a single venue, it may be that they don’t define these features as ‘brand characteristics’. But that’s effectively what they are. There is plenty of room for a wide variety of brands in the leisure industry but first generation brands tend to have a little bit of magic that often gets diluted very quickly with repetition.

In the office, we talk about the role interior design plays in brand identity fairly regularly and our take is that it’s part of it, but not the totality. A design scheme is a very visible indicator of brand values, but the operation and service also play a huge role in determining customer experience and perceptions. When we’re working on a project we take all these factors into consideration. We tend to sort out the space first and foremost, the flow, the variety, the flexibility and the practicality. Then we examine the culture, the look and feel, the target audience and the inherent brand characteristics we are looking to produce before we even start to look at furniture, colour and fixtures and fittings. This stood us in good stead in producing venues that are perceived as having their own successful individual brands.
In the leisure industry, branded estates have become popular amongst corporate operators because they deliver consistency and economy. Good operators tend to understand how a particular concept works, can refine its strengths and, because it’s a known quantity, when they roll it out it’s perceived as lower risk than starting from scratch.

Large chains of branded concepts work particularly well at the value end of the market, where the familiarity that a brand represents is reassuring to customers; it effectively offers a comfort zone. They also work in a world where people are under increasing time pressure. If you’re a coffee fan who’s in a rush, you’re probably more likely to go to the Starbucks outlet, which you know will deliver a guaranteed standard of drink, rather than take time to find - and take a risk on - an unbranded outlet where you’re not sure what you’re going to get.

In a lot of cases people like to associate themselves with the latest new thing in town, the popular people’s choice, the trendy bars, while at the same time they take great pleasure and comfort in their own local when they are not out treading the catwalk. In my opinion the embodiment of a successful city brand can achieve the familiarity and comfort factor of a local pub while delivering the aspirational ‘place to be seen’ experience. It is when that magic formula is then taken and reproduced brick by brick in ten different towns that it looses its sparkle.

At best, brands are a promise of consistency that’s delivered in a fresh and customer focused way. But the danger with rolling out a brand is that there’s a tendency for them to deteriorate into a formula and become sterile.

The worst cases are the brands that are thoughtlessly replicated - soulless roll outs. As a designer I couldn’t imagine anything worse than working on a series of projects where you’re repeatedly producing the same thing in different cities, with no hint of consideration for the culture of the place you’re moving into.

The other problem with brand extensions, even when they’re done well, are that they breed homogeneity. Traveling around the UK and even in Europe over the past 10 or 15 years you notice increasingly that the same shops and bars are in every town and city, and that one place can look much the same as another. As a customer, in that environment, you are looking for something unexpected, an unfamiliar brand to grab your attention the experience is far more interesting because it takes you out of your natural comfort zone. If you’ve made the effort to go to a different city, part of that journey is to discover new places and maybe even environments that jar slightly with your senses: a rooftop bar in New York, an off-the-beaten track beach bar in Bali, a back street tapas joint in Spain or even a proper traditional karaoke bar in Tokyo can turn you on much more than corporate globalisation ever will.

Neil Morten:

When some think of late night leisure branding they perhaps think of the old Mecca and Rank days, where a black carpet and mirror ball helped turn uniform Cinderellas. Rockerfellas and Ritzy brands into the legends they are now. But like its customers, the industry has evolved, as has its branding efforts. So much so that when we started GMP Design in 1990 we were ‘branded’ the enfant terrible of leisure thanks to our cutting edge concepts and use of new materials. We tried to enlighten multiple operators and owners of the time that to successfully produce an award-winning branded nightclub a good starting point was to listen to what customers wanted. That - and to use a design team that is still young enough to have a valid opinion on what a customer really wants out of their dancing venue.
In actual fact, in those days, despite us knocking on corporate owners doors so hard that our knuckles bled, the then disco dinosaurs would prefer to retain the services of brand (or was that bland?) designers who, even with massive budgets compared to those of today, still managed to produce non-cohesive, multi-coloured open spaces with a neon sign emblazoned above its front doors that was 20 years old!

Thankfully, just like the original dinosaurs, the disco versions have all become extinct. The decision-makers of multiple-owned sites are now more in tune with that of their target market. And, of course, they have to be: most would agree that the Licensing Act 2003 has increased competition for the late night leisure pound. It’s amazing how focused one becomes when it is no longer a matter of opening the doors and the punters come a-flooding in.

When we talk about branding today we mean working closely with our clients to ensure that, if they want to expand their brand, it isn’t just a case of producing a facsimile of a venue that has previously recorded success. As major marketers would concur, having a great brand name is superb. I am sure when Ritzy was originally launched all those years ago, it provided a benchmark for other Ritzy venues to follow. But the only thing to evolve was its reputation: of being same old, same old, right to the point when someone belatedly killed it off.

It’s down to what you want to do with the brand after you have achieved success that either evolves the concept, or drives it down the cheesy road of eventual embarrassment. And just because a brand is successful in one place, doesn’t mean it automatically becomes a success elsewhere. There are numerous well-documented leisure casualties that have taken a brand wholesale and dropped it into a town without validated research, and flopped. As part of the process, it’s integral that homework is done before launching. I have been in a design presentation with a client and told them to their face, you may have a great brand but it will not work if you roll out a standard format and expect great business. In the old days they might have told us to leave; now they are all ears.

GMP enjoys working for corporate and independent operators, we wouldn’t have it any other way. The two feed off each other - sharing market trends, operating methods or material sourcing. We regularly work on ‘unique’ one-off projects as well as the familiar high street ones, and the common denominator is the passion with which we approach each job.

Over the years we have assisted a number of brands escalate to headier climbs. One such instance is the Ministry of Sound. Few would argue this is probably the most famous club brand in the world - and a major reason for its huge success is that although it adheres to a basic formula - stunning sound, opulent surroundings, unique experience - it also embraces regional tastes.

Rolling out a brand can reduce a multiple operator’s overheads, thanks to centralised purchasing power. If it has a regular contracting team, then it can also maintain exacting standards. But the philosophy of successful nightclub and bar branding isn’t the same as that you might see elsewhere in the High Street - perish the thought! To have more than one venue with the same name is great - providing that within that brand is the opportunity to evolve as its audience does. One must address regional tastes to ensure success. And that’s the gospel of branding according to GMP.

From: July 2007 Issue

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