Creating a destination travel parent brand.
Aramark Leisure Brand Strategy, Identity, Design, Website Design & Development
When you think of Aramark, you might think about hot dogs, beer and a ball game. They also happen to manage and operate over 60 national and state parks, national forests, conference centers and other tourist destinations throughout the United States. We partnered with Aramark to create a consumer brand that could tie these properties together, help grow their audience and ultimately inspire more people to visit.
Bringing our destination and travel marketing experience to bear.
We had a few brand strategy, branding, marketing and product challenges to overcome. First, each property (Yosemite National Park, Lake Powell, Denali to name a few) lived on an island– with its own booking site, customer relationships (email lists) and brand. Limited by National Park Service oversight, there was no ability to cross promote or market across properties. Their online footprint/SEO was limited by these constraints.
We also needed to look at our customer base. The properties’ primary audience was loyal, but older and not necessarily growing. We saw a huge opportunity to engage with a younger millennial audience. A group we understand well, and one that craves experiences and adventure. We needed to make the offerings more relevant and engaging to get them to visit.
A brand that brings other brands together.
The destinations formed a strong and diverse range of brands, but there was no real consistency across them. Clearly there was a need for a common platform or “parent” brand. One that could maintain the integrity and authenticity of each individual property brand but be the glue that tied the properties together.
The Nation’s Vacation.
We created (and named) the Nation’s Vacation. The mission of this brand is to inspire unforgettable and authentic experiences that reflect the culture that surrounds each destination.
We developed a full identity system and brand voice that supports and complements our destination brands, yet is distinctive, memorable and maintains the authenticity of each of those brands. We built the system to work on-property and extend beyond brand and marketing into merchandising– and be a marketable brand for nationwide partnerships.
The center of this brand is a portal, or “uber-destination” site, that brings all of Aramark’s destinations, properties and experiences together. Through stunning photography, a unique editorial voice and consistent brand identity, we capture the experiences and activities around those destinations to promote inspiration, discovery and ultimately booking.
The journey is the destination.
We created this experience-focused site to allow us to build a massive and immensely scalable SEO footprint. We partnered with The Outbound Collective to complement our content, providing a massive array of experiences in and around our destinations, all created and curated by people who take these adventures.
With the combination of our content and The Outbound Collective, we launched with over 720 unique experiences and 3500 images, and will continue to add and grow. This has been a dream project for us, and we look forward to adding to those experiences first-hand.
“We are in the business of engaging our guest through interpretation. It is our job to help our guest feel connected, understand the relevance and feel inspired to learn more about the properties and the surrounding areas they are in.”
