The Palmer House, a Hilton Hotel, has been a Chicago icon since its construction in 1871. Thor Equities purchased the property in 2005, with plans to completely renovate the hotel and develop the street level retail with upscale luxury brand shops. Thor subsequently invested $170 million toward an inside-and-out renovation of the Palmer House.
The Palmer House is first and foremost a meetings-driven property, with over 1,600 rooms and suites, and 100,000 square feet of meeting and exhibition space. Meeting professionals are a demanding group – highly sought after by hotels, convention centers and meeting facilities across the country. With their room nights and extra spend, this segment can make or break a large property. Other desirable target audiences for the Palmer House include local groups, wedding planners, upscale leisure travelers, and local food and beverage guests.
Through comprehensive research of competitors, the hospitality industry, meeting professionals and upscale leisure travelers, Acropolis embarked on the creative task of rebranding the Palmer House. The inspiration we chose as an idea model was the new marketing approach for Cadillac. There was an iconic brand, well-respected but stigmatized as an older person’s car. Their new campaign brought Cadillac to a new audience with a revitalized image. We concluded that this was the correct approach for the Palmer House – to elevate, evolve, and bring a new, modern energy to a well-known icon.
With the Palmer House, we set out to “bring sexy back.” We recognized a unique opportunity to communicate the property’s fantastic history and heritage, but also to bring it into the 21st century as a hip, vibrant, and elegant property. We delivered a new brand identity, complete with a new color palette, font menu, photography style and brand guide. We created new ads to capture the attention of and business from large meetings, local groups, weddings and F&B. We designed and produced a new sales collateral kit, complete with outside three-panel folder with a multi-level die, interior “glamour brochure”, floor plan and suite plan brochures, and a database-driven interactive DVD. We also designed, developed and launched two new websites – one for the hotel property and a second for the weddings segment.
