Holiday Inn Rebrands
October 24, 2007 by Susan Gunelius
Filed under Marketing
Today, InterContinental Hotels Group announced that two of its iconic brands, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express, will undergo a rebranding initiative scheduled to launch during the second quarter of 2008 with final completion of all steps not expected to be completed until the first quarter of 2010. With that kind of time frame, this must be a huge rebranding effort.
The rebranding will start with the Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express logos which will change from the well-known script and rising star graphic to cleaner look.
Here are the old logos:
And here are the new logos:
It seems that Holiday Inn has long been known as a family hotel, and Intercontinental Hotels Group wants to change that perception. To that end, the company conducted surveys with 18,000 customers last year to find what changes need to be made to the brand. As a result, visitors can expect to see all 3,125 branded Holiday Inn hotels around the world go through the rebranding process with changes to decor, service and overall quality being a top priority.
The goal of the Holiday Inn rebranding is a simple one. To change the brand’s image in the mind of business travelers and steal some market share from competitors from that lucrative target market. Do you think this rebranding will be successful? Can Holiday Inn compete with Hilton and some of the other perceived business-friendly hotel chains for a piece of business travelers’ wallets?
Are they serious? This looks rather cheap and bland. Why change a brand signature as recognizable as John Hancock for something this generic? This is a mistake.
I think the re branding of the holiday inn is a great idea, if you look at lots of top brands of hotel chains you will notice that they all look very similar, all of which is followed up by the words “hotels & Resorts” for the many previous years the holiday inn has been seen as a family hotel and not a business persons hotel, and that the hilton attracts families, business people, and so on, this is why the re branding is necessary to attract more people into the changed hotels. Have you stayed in the holiday inn recently? you will notice that the hotels have changed loads than what they used to look like. this is why they are rebranding the hotels and i think it is a very brave move that could potentially win back the business market and so we can compete with brands like the hilton. It is neccessary for the grown and expansion of the business.
Huge mistake. There was so much equity and personality to the old logo. Its one thing to revamp your logo, but its another to scrap it in favor of some generic bubbly gradient mess. I’m seeing a lot of bad rebrands lately such as apple bees and wallmart. I blame .coms for their shotty 1 hour unimaginative logos and teaching people thats okay. I also think the economy is effecting design in the sense that a lot of big projects are being executed by pretty low payed designers. The old logo makes me feel this sense of nostalgia like some classy 50’s hotel when everyone could afford to travel in style. I feel dead inside when I see the new logo.
I am an Operations Manager with Holiday Inn Express. Already, Holiday Inn express has been able to keep pace with Hilton and other executive hotels. (At least in our market area) Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express are well known brands- in fact Holiday Inn Express is one of America’s greatest brands along with McDonald’s and Barnes & Noble. McDonald’s changed its persona in the 2000’s to appeal to the younger, more modern, and urban crowds. The “I’m lovin’ it” campaign worked wonders for McDonald’s. A little re branding will remind America that Holiday Inn is still kicking, still upholding high standards, and giving more to the average Joe. I am excited to participate.
This is like Coca-Cola announcing, one fine day, that they are getting rid of those curly letters from the 19th century and replacing it with… I don’t know, the New Coke logo? Ugh! Of all the redesigns this new, 21st-century Web 2.0 world is urging corporations everywhere to pay creative agencies billions to do, this had to be THE one. This isn’t a ‘little rebranding’, Camck. This is a TOTAL, complete makeover. Was it necessary? No, not at all. Having a typeface like the one on the old branding is timeless… just a really big shame.