Brand Makeovers: Jay Schwartz of Once Upon a Time Hospitality On The 5 Things You Should Do To Upgrade and Re-Energize Your Brand and Image
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Gain Clarity. After years of operation a business might not realize how their original model has shifted. They may have put a plan together 3, 5, or 10 years ago but they’re no longer focused on the same core offering or they pivoted at some point and their customers are working with them in different ways. Hiring a brand consultant to look at what is actually happening at this point in time and comparing against what the original goal was can help a business stay focused, speak to their current customers better, and open up new avenues or revenue streams.
As part of our series about “Brand Makeovers” series I had the pleasure to interview Jay Schwartz.
Jay Schwartz has over 25 years of design experience in brand development, user interface, and creative direction in the hospitality and luxury industries. Jay was the founder of IdeaWork Studios, now Once Upon a Time Hospitality.
Hotels benefiting from Jay’s expertise include: 11 Howard, The Darcy, Gansevoort Hotel Group, Gramercy Park Hotel, Gurney’s Resorts, Hersha Hospitality Group, Hard Rock Hotels, Ian Schrager Company (EDITION and PUBLIC), The Jaffa, and The NoMad Hotel. He also plans and designs creative for Jean-Georges, Eric Ripert, Daniel Boulud, Daniel Humm, Charlie Palmer, Andrew Carmelini, and many other renowned chefs.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit more. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Thank you for having me! The short version of my journey started with me as a fine artist who became a graphic designer. One thing led to another and I opened my own agency, IdeaWork Studios, in Santa Barbara circa 1999. After a few successful years I expanded to Las Vegas where I got to flex my creative muscles developing hotel, restaurant, and nightclub brands. I was brought into the luxury hospitality space in New York in 2007, and that’s where I was introduced to iconic hoteliers and chefs. IdeaWork was acquired a couple of years ago by Once Upon a Time, which has opened doors to international brand development projects.
Can you share a story about the funniest marketing or branding mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
There are certainly a lot of stories to tell because I’ve made a plethora of mistakes. One of my biggest mistakes (not sure this is “funny”) was when I was working for a Las Vegas hotel and came up with a couple of ad campaign ideas that went a little too risqué. The hotel wound up getting a massive fine from the gaming commission. I awoke from the news of the fine to accept my fate of being fired (or worse) but the VP of marketing was all smiles … turns out the fine made front-page news in the New York Times. Lesson learned is that sometimes you just get lucky.
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Is there a takeaway or lesson that others can learn from that?
There’s no tipping point… this business is constant ups and downs/highs and lows, not for the faint of heart. The takeaway I would give to anyone is the same philosophy I expect of myself and all my team: do what you say you’re going to do, when you said you were going to do it. I know that has nothing to do with branding, other than being part of my personal brand, but it’s the one constant that’s proven to win throughout my career.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
Focusing on the hospitality space I’m not curing cancer, so helping people is all relative. I’m currently working on several very cool and interesting branding projects — a revolutionary entertainment and dining destination in Malta, a transformational rebranding project in Israel, and a couple of game-changer hotel brands in NYC (and soon beyond).
What advice would you give to other marketers to thrive and avoid burnout?
This one’s a challenge. I’m not qualified to give anyone advice on this topic, as I find myself always working. I haven’t had a real vacation or taken holiday since 2004, but I avoid burnout by taking some “me” time wherever I find myself. Travel is a massive component of my job and I often find myself in interesting parts of the world, so I take time to tour around and get inspired by local culture, food, people, art, and architecture.
Ok, let’s now jump to the core part of our interview. In a nutshell, how would you define the difference between brand marketing (branding) and product marketing (advertising)? Can you explain?
The main differences are in the approach. Branding should be more subtle and integrated. Branding is an experience and takes many forms — how the client answers the phone, what the email signature looks like, what the signage on the outside of a building says about the property. Advertising is more commodity — drive a response; whether it’s driving a website visit, an in-store visit, or a direct purchase.
Can you explain to our readers why it is important to invest resources and energy into building a brand, in addition to the general marketing and advertising efforts?
For my industry, hospitality, brand is everything. You want to invest in creating a brand that targets not just any guest, but the right guest. And, as a hotel, restaurant, spa, members’ club, etc., you need to be able to deliver on that brand promise. Building the right brand will attract the right guest (or customer), enhance their stay when on property (or using the product), and increase loyalty. The axiom that it’s always easiest to market to your existing customers (or guests) is very true.
Let’s now talk about rebranding. What are a few reasons why a company would consider rebranding?
There are many reasons, including obvious things like new management, renovations, anniversaries, and changing or expanding on services. If a hotel invests in adding a spa, for example, they may want to consider rebranding and repositioning as more of a resort. Rebranding will let their guests know about their new services and better position the hotel to increase rates to get the return on their capital expenditure. Another reason would be to shed bad publicity. Companies like Facebook, for example, have loftier goals than social media and are being dragged through the mud for several reasons. Rebranding might be a good way to divest from negative associations.
Are there downsides of rebranding? Are there companies that you would advise against doing a “Brand Makeover”? Why?
Looking to the recent past, a couple of failed rebrand attempts illustrate what not to do. The Gap, as a good example, was an institution that was beloved by many. Randomly changing their logo without any real rhyme or reason backfired miserably and they reversed course. I think rebranding should only be considered if there’s something new to say or if there’s a past to shed.
Can you share 5 strategies that a company can do to upgrade and re-energize their brand and image? Please tell us a story or an example for each.
- Gain Clarity. After years of operation a business might not realize how their original model has shifted. They may have put a plan together 3, 5, or 10 years ago but they’re no longer focused on the same core offering or they pivoted at some point and their customers are working with them in different ways. Hiring a brand consultant to look at what is actually happening at this point in time and comparing against what the original goal was can help a business stay focused, speak to their current customers better, and open up new avenues or revenue streams.
- Update the logo. This one’s obvious, but lots of companies redesign their logos every few years to keep up with the times. Enduring operations with lots of heritage may have audiences that have drifted away or died off. Refreshing the logo and feel can breathe new life into a company, their employees, and their customers.
- Update Typography & Colours. If a logo redesign is too cumbersome or cost prohibitive, a little modernizing or updating of the brand colours or typography could help inject a little life into a tired brand identity.
- Create new assets. Lifestyle brands often use photos and videos that incorporate people. Updating those assets every few years is important to stay fresh, as fashions change, hairstyles change, and society’s norms change. Updating logos and colours will only go so far if all your images look were shot in the mid-90s.
- Build a new website. One of the biggest marketing opportunities, the website should be constantly evolving. Content needs to constantly stay fresh, but beyond that, changes in technology and user behaviour necessitate website refreshes every year or so. A complete redesign should be considered every 3 years or so.
In your opinion, what is an example of a company that has done a fantastic job doing a “Brand Makeover?” What specifically impresses you? What can one do to replicate that?
OK this might be a little controversial, but I think Sheraton just did a great job with their rebrand. It’s both a massive departure and an incremental change. It’s certainly not groundbreaking, but it modernizes the brand while nodding to its heritage. It paves the way for future rollouts and creative executions without being super trendy. I’m seeing some landmark hotels take big risks rebranding to something super trendy and it’ll need to be redone in 3–5 years. Sheraton has paved the way for a real refresh that will last decades — it’ll probably take that long to get all their properties updated with the new rollout.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
As mentioned earlier it’s as simple as it gets. “Do what you say you’re going to do when you said you’d do it.” You can be the most creative person in the world or come up with the most compelling idea ever, but if the ad you produced for the Superbowl comes out 2 days after the Superbowl, it’s useless. Don’t overcommit. Keep your promises and take them seriously.
How can our readers follow you online?
I’m @jayschwartz on Instagram
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
Brand Makeovers: Jay Schwartz of Once Upon a Time Hospitality On The 5 Things You Should Do To… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
