We needed to start at the beginning, which was with the Marston’s master brand. So to understand that, we popped into pubs to speak to customers directly. We asked what pubs mean to them, how they fit into their lives – and also what their current perceptions of the overall Marston’s brand were.
But we didn’t just have questions – we also had early ideas for potential new pub formats which we ran past them. (Better to spot any red flags early!)
Armed with these insights, we then met with the Marston’s team for a series of workshops. Together, we fine-tuned the master brand and figured out how five distinct new pub formats could all exist under the Marston’s umbrella.
We created a brand architecture that made sense of it all, then developed everything each format needed: vision, positioning, personality, values, essence, and names. Think of it as giving each pub format its own character while keeping them part of the same family.
Marston’s used our work to design the experience of each new pub type, then began to roll them out as pilots.
We weren’t done yet though – we went to the customers in those pilot pubs to see how the new brands were landing. It meant we could check what changes we could make to give customers exactly what they wanted, while still being aligned to the new brand.
