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W Hotels

Founded in the late 90s, W Hotels broke onto the hospitality scene in loud opposition to “The Beige Age” – an era when bland uniformity and cookie-cutter experiences permeated hospitality and culture. In that moment, W Hotels redefined the industry with vibrant, design-forward experiences.

As a brand that had set the tone for decades, this year, they once again sought to disrupt their industry by signalling their mutli-year brand evolution to the world. As part of this 360-approach to experience transformation, TUX was tasked with creating a brand campaign that would reignite the relevance of W Hotels, giving them permission to reclaim their place as cultural tastemaker in the eyes of an ever more discerning creative class. Tell me more

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As a brand that had set the tone for decades, this year, they once again sought to disrupt their industry by signalling their mutli-year brand evolution to the world. As part of this 360-approach to experience transformation, TUX was tasked with creating a brand campaign that would reignite the relevance of W Hotels, giving them permission to reclaim their place as cultural tastemaker in the eyes of an ever more discerning creative class.

Since the cultural landscape has long played a critical role in the brand’s success, we worked on unearthing how today’s context might play a supporting role in W Hotels’ “main character” comeback.

If the 90s had been the ‘Beige Age,’ we might aptly dub our current era the ‘Grey Days,’ as things are drearier now than they were back then; research has found that 60% of all the world’s objects, items, and materials are now black, white, or grey – a color scheme that matches a now pervasive and deep existential dread. Today, nearly 1 in 2 (49%) Millennials feel trapped by their life, while 70% are not where they thought they’d be at this point in their life.

We knew our audience was in desperate need of an escape...

Here was an opportunity we knew W Hotels was uniquely poised to own.

So, our brand campaign invited our audience to check into W Hotels to check out of the ordinary. We sought to highlight the brand’s difference: a promise that each guest experience is unique and memorable. We framed the brand’s core offering as an antidote to the mundane – inviting guests into bespoke experiences where the only constant is extraordinary.

Hotel Tales: “You Had To Be There.”

Interesting people make for interesting stays, and both are a hallmark of W Hotels. So, we created a campaign that invited audiences into the rich, curiosity-provoking world of W Hotels. Here, we focused on the magnetic energy of its spaces and guests – who they are, why they’re here, what they’ve been up to.

In candid, naturalistic style, celebrated personalities like “it” girl and icon Chloe Sevigny recount one-of-a-kind experiences they’ve had during a W Hotels stay. Our approach celebrated the hotel as more than a destination, positioning it as a living stage where stories emerge, interesting people collide, and the uneventful turns eventful. Told in individual snippets, the stories were selected to spark intrigue and create a sense of whimsy that would fuel our audience’s desire to escape normalcy.

The campaign became a call to live luxury through the lens of cultural energy; exclusivity defined not by opulence, but by the quality of human experiences and creativity, those “you had to be there” moments that urge you: “next time, be there.”

Interesting people, interesting stays. We helped W Hotels set the tone once again in a 360 brand campaign inspired by stories so unexpected “you had to be there.” The new work dives into the curiosity-provoking world of W Hotels, with intriguing guests and celebrated figures opening up about the spontaneous and memorable moments they’ve had there.

One mark of a stay at W Hotels is the curiosity you’ll feel with each guest you cross – compelling encounters that make you wonder ‘Who are they?’ ‘What have they been up to?’ Tapping into that mystique, we created a  new video series, Hotel Tales, along with a collection of stills featuring some of W Hotels’ most notable guests, like actor Chloë Sevigny and artist Miranda Makaroff, as they relived the stays that stayed with them.