It was recently reported that the top 20 hospitality companies in America generated approximately $215 billion in 2006. To succeed in such a highly competitive industry a company must aggressively cultivate new customers and at the same time, maintain customer loyalty. There are two key factors that create customer preference over time: differentiation and customer experience.

Starwood® Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc., one of the world’s top five travel and hospitality companies understands just that. With approximately 850 properties in more than 95 countries Starwood Hotels is a company that has its finger directly on the pulse of the world’s most active travelers. Starwood’s nine different internationally renowned hotel and resort properties are some of the most recognizable and sought after brand names in the hotel industry, from the trendy W® Hotels with cutting edge music and its signature Whatever\Whenever service, or the luxurious St. Regis® known for its flawless service for the high-end traveler, to the upscale European inspired Le Méridien®, a brand known for its passion for food, art and style.

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In 2006, Starwood decided to redefine the branding of three of its other popular hotels – the Westin®, Sheraton®, and Four Points® by Sheraton. The impetus for the rebranding was the company’s repositioning of its corporate profile, moving from being seen as a real estate holding firm to being thought of as a branding and lifestyle company.

The immense project of rolling out three completely revamped brands in less than a year was handed over to the Starwood’s in-house marketing and design team. Senior Creative Director, Aimee Hoban, and Senior Director, Creative Services, Rick Lavoie managed the project. “Starwood’s main objective is to do everything we can to differentiate ourselves in the minds of travelers. Our hotels are about a lifestyle experience and about transcending that feeling back to home,” says Hoban.

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“The vision of a lifestyle experience for the Starwood properties is clear and unchanged. It is carried throughout all of the hotels, yet each remains autonomous and very distinctly its own brand,” said Senior Director, Rick Lavoie. Although the team was redeveloping the identities of the three brands at the same time, they had to maintain the specific personality each is known for. For instance, Sheraton, the company’s largest brand found in major cities and luxurious water resorts worldwide, is an upscale property known for making its guests feel a sense of comfort and belonging by providing a warm welcoming connection to what matters most to travelers – home, the office, and the best spots in town.

The Sheraton differs from the Four Points by Sheraton, which has an approachable style and spirited “can-do” service at an honest value for the self-sufficient traveler. Then there is the high-profile Westin brand, renowned not only for its comfortable beds but also for inspiring guests from the first impression with its sensory experiences of light, music, white tea scent and botanicals.

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For the Starwood marketing team, the idea of brand impression is not left only to the hotel’s amenities and services. A customer’s experience carries through to all the printed collateral that is associated with the hotels, from notepads, key packets, TV channel cards, and check out receipts, to the doorknob hangers. “Many of these items are high touch points for guests. They generally pick these things up and hold another piece of the experience in their hands,” said Hoban.

Since this was to be such a large print production program with so many different items to be produced, each needing to fit a different persona, but each needing a distinct level of quality, the creative team considered another way to look at paper selection. “In the past we had two shelves of paper sample books, we never knew if they were all current, and we would sometimes end up specifying papers that weren’t available,” said Hoban. “And, we worried that we would have to sacrifice quality for budgetary reasons since we needed to order so many different papers.” According to

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Added to the challenge of developing the collateral for three brands at once in a short period of time, Hoban and her team were also looking for papers to comply with Starwood’s sustainability initiative. “The goal was to find one paper source that offered enough variation for all our needs, one which included environmental papers, and one that could see Starwood as a whole,” said Hoban.

Starwood turned to the Sterling Group, a paper and sourcing consultant, who found that Mohawk met multiple criteria, such as variety of substrates available under one roof: speed to market, environmentally manufactured, level of quality, and best possible value. “The baseline objective was to make everyone happy — creative wanted a large selection of white papers, in addition to many luscious finishes, and production had the responsibility to procure paper within various brand specific budgets. It was our job to align with and support the end user on both fronts,” said Hilary Strauss Hahn, Managing Director, Global Marketing, Sterling Group.

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As Starwood’s Senior Creative Director, with a time-sensitive project in development, Hoban was very hands-on with the decision. “The process took a couple of months but it was a valuable experience. Mohawk paper is such great quality. Their selection holds something for all of our needs, and they lead in their environmental paper choices. As with any creative process, once it is done, it all makes sense,” says Hoban.

Mohawk Navajo and Strathmore Writing were the papers chosen for the Sheraton materials. Mohawk Options, Strathmore Writing and Mohawk Via are all used to represent the Four Points by Sheraton hotels. “Color is the most important part of Four Points. Each of these papers reproduces the color we want to perfection,” says Hoban.

The luxurious of Mohawk Superfine lends itself to the Westin persona.

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The collective efforts of Starwood’s marketing team and the Sterling Group to combine purchasing discipline with environmental focus meant that Starwood saved money and realized significant environmental benefits. Because 100% of the electricity used by Mohawk is offset with certified windpower certificates, the Sterling Group reports that Starwood’s 2007 environmental savings is equal to preserving1467.61 trees, not creating 420,800 lbs. of waterborne waste, not consuming 1,032,412,010 BTUs of energy, and preventing134,881 net greenhouse gases.

And, Starwood continues its branding initiatives with the addition of new brands to the Starwood portfolio – Aloft and Element. Mohawk’s brand portfolio continues to provide the teams the resources they need to distinguish the important touch points for each hotel’s positioning of unique experience.

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The Red Carpet Goes Green

While you sat on your couch admiring the designs adorning your favorite celebrities at this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards show did you pause at all to think about the designers that didn’t get acknowledged on the red carpet? The designers who created the pieces that promoted and surrounded the event — the invitations, tickets, posters, programs, and yes, the envelope?

Scott Buford, Art Director, Academy of Television Arts and Sciences reinvents the look of the Emmy’s each year, and this year’s 59th Primetime Emmy Awards was no exception. Buford, a former Disney designer, pushed beyond the creation of the alluring graphics of the award show and set new goals this year to create brand consistency across all media including print and motion graphics, and worked with all the show partners to make the event as green as it can be.

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Designing the visual branding for each year’s show starts more than a year in advance, and involves hundreds of people. The collaboration between all the related departments determined the focus that was this year’s theme: to convey the feeling from the performer’s point of view. “We wanted to capture the emotion of the event, the elegance surrounding the statue, the feeling of excitement of looking out onto the stage from the performer’s perspective,” said Buford.

The final core visual was a dramatic departure from previous years featuring an elegant close up of the Emmy statuette with emotive, evening colors to suggest the lighting in the Shrine Auditorium. “It is truly regal in feeling,” says Buford. “I previewed the materials with many people, and the feedback has been very positive.” I asked them if they noticed something different. Most do not. I point out there’s no “gold.” We didn’t need it. The graphics are all about light and how it affects the mood of the room during the show. This graphic really gives it a different feeling.”

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Having achieved a consistent image across all media, Buford then focused on his second goal: a strong environmental story. “With over 45 different printed pieces to produce (invitations, letterhead, tickets, envelopes and dozens of other materials) and more than 1 million printed pieces, it was important for us to really think out of the box, about how we used materials and what materials we used.”

For the first time in Emmy history, Buford sought a corporate sustainability partner and found one with Mohawk Fine Papers. “I am proud to say that all of the 59th Emmy materials that were produced on a mix of Mohawk’s carbon neutral papers. Special runs of Mohawk Options 100% postconsumer FSC certified waste fiber papers, were made carbon neutral. By making these environmental choices, the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards saved the equivalent of:
• 130 trees
• 55,000 gallons of wastewater
• 6,000 lbs of solid waste
• 19,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions
• Or, not driving 7500 miles in a passenger car

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In addition, all materials were printed by California-based Ventura Printing, which is an FSC certified printer, so all of the final pieces are FSC approved. Ventura printed all materials with linseed oil-based inks on a waterless printing system that eliminates ozone-destroying, volatile organic compounds from the process. This saved 505,155 BTUs of energy from being consumed and 261 pounds of air emissions from being generated.

FOX, the Television Academy and the telecast producers set ambitious green goals, including the use of recyclable materials and recycling whenever possible; using hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles for transportation; and replacing production golf carts with bicycles.

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The goals set also included reducing power requirements and utilizing alternative and eco-friendly energy sources — including solar power — for red carpet arrivals, production and Primetime Emmy events. Plus, the production used locally grown and/or organic foods for press and event guests; and incorporated green themes into the televised broadcast.

“When you are doing all of this work, you don’t think about it too much. And then you see someone like Jeremy Piven win an Emmy (Ari Gold in HBO’s Entourage (‘Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series 2006’) and then you realize how important this is to so many people. And the hard work is all worth it.”

The 59th Primetime Emmys aired on September 16th on FOX.

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Amrani Chocolates

Antoine Amrani has a delicious, yet distinguished, background in chocolate-making.

His passion was sparked early when, as a small child, he would marvel at beautifully handcrafted sweets in the windows of elegant Parisian shops. He viewed chocolate as a luxurious treat to be shared and enjoyed, as he often did with his own family, on very special occasions. He knew then that he wanted to become a Chef Chocolatier and create wonderfully, rich, chocolate confections to share with others.

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Trained in Paris at the Ritz Escoffier, Antoine Amrani later became the Head Pastry Chef at Philadelphia’s critically acclaimed, 5-Star Mobil rated, Le Bec Fin, before opening his exclusive Chocolate Factory in East Norriton, PA. Even though he is now surrounded by chocolate on a daily basis (lucky him!), Antoine Amrani still views chocolate as a way to express his creativity and share the delicious results with others.

His chocolates are meant to be celebrated. “I want people to return to the beauty and enjoyment of life’s small pleasures,” says Amrani. From the beautifully designed packaging to very last velvety smooth bite, Antoine Amrani Chocolates places extraordinary emphasis on creating a premium product and a delectable experience.

Luxurious Inside and Out
Amrani knows that the enjoyment begins with the packaging; and he wanted the outside of the box to match the luxurious treats contained within. He consulted Smith Design, the New Jersey and California-based brand design firm, who worked closely with Antoine Amrani’s team to develop every aspect of the brand, from the design and shapes of the chocolates to its identity and packaging.

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Because Smith Design has a core focus in brand identity, package design and sustainable design, not only would the packaging be beautiful, it would also be environmentally friendly.

“As a standard of practice, we research and recommend environmentally sustainable solutions to our clients,” says Martha Seidner, VP of Smith Design. “Selecting papers that are recyclable, FSC certified and manufactured using sustainable energy sources is not only important to us and our client, it is very important to today’s consumer as well.”

It was a natural choice for Smith Design to use Mohawk’s www.mohawkpaper.com environmental Beckett Cambric for Antoine Amrani Chocolate’s gift boxes and sleeves. “We explored a range of paper options, but we chose Beckett Cambric because it offered a myriad of benefits,” said Seidner. “The bonus was to learn that not only do these papers fully maximize our design strategy, but also that the papers are carbon neutral and manufactured with Green-e certified wind energy.”

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Delivering on the Brand’s Promise

It was important for Smith Design to create packaging that reflected the brand’s promise to deliver a “superlative chocolate experience™. “Our design team wanted to find the richest and most appealing brown for the gift boxes, to communicate a very sophisticated brand. Cambric’s Mahogany shade was selected because it offers a velvety, dense color saturation and fine linen texture,” said Seidner. “To our design team, it mirrors ‘luxury chocolate.’ Additionally, the Mahogany brown provides a dramatic contrast to the Amrani branding, which is a chartreuse logo, based on merging classic European influences with modern innovation. The logo is foil stamped on the lid, and revealed on the sides through an elegant scroll pattern.”

Currently, there are four gift box sizes, each sealed with full-color printed sleeves on Beckett Cambric White in bold vibrant colors, such as chartreuse, bright orange, magenta and purple. “These sleeves deliver a high fashion ‘wow’ factor against the tailored brown,” comments Seidner.

 

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The chocolates themselves are positioned at the very highest end of the super-premium chocolate segment, and each flavor in Antoine Amrani’s Signature line is enrobed in an exclusive 70 percent Dark chocolate. Mouthwatering flavors include Pure Dark, Banana Rum, Coconut Kaffir Lime, Orange Grand Marnier, Almond Crisp and Coffee Sour Cherry.

When asked what her favorite Antoine Amrani flavors were, Seidner replied, “Now that’s a tough question. Once you develop a palette for these types of chocolates — and it doesn’t take long — they all taste very, very good. I think my favorites are Hazelnut Praline, Duo Cafe and Organic Cinnamon Honey.”

Yumm. Have a chocolate craving yet?

Tempted? Go ahead, give in.
You can order these incredible treats by calling 877-267-2644 (877 AMRANI-4)
or online at AAchocolates.com

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Coldwell Banker

Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, one of Northern California’s leading providers of real estate services, unveiled a sweeping redesign of all of its marketing materials to incorporate “green” printing practices. The redesigned collateral includes presentation materials, buyer materials, direct mail, print advertising, company and agent online materials and website designs used by Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage and its 4,300 sales associates from Lake Tahoe to the Monterey Bay Region.

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The green marketing effort is the latest move by Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage to incorporate environmentally responsible business practices into its daily operations in Northern California.

According to Anne Treacy, Vice President of Marketing for Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, it was important to the company’s executives and agents that the redesign incorporate innovative, environmentally responsible practices. “We chose Mohawk papers because they provided the paper weights and color choices we needed, plus they met our objective of choosing an environmentally responsible paper — all at an affordable price,” says Treacy.

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The marketing materials were produced on Mohawk Options, Bright White, Smooth paper and printed at Sierra Office Supply and Printing in Sacramento, which is currently in the process of becoming FSC-certified.

As reported by Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, by using Mohawk Options Bright White, Smooth 30% PCW, which is made using renewable energy, to produce their printed collateral, the company’s environmental savings is equal to:
129 trees preserved for future use 
375 lbs. of water-borne waste not created
55,050 gallons water/wastewater flow saved 
6,090 lbs. of solid waste not generated
12,000 lbs. net greenhouse gases prevented
91.8 million BTUs of energy not consumed
20,772 lbs. of air emissions not generated 

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Treacy said that more and more agents are moving towards printing on demand either within their office, home, or at the local print shop. The new design also allows agents to ensure that the downloadable materials available on the company’s intranet mirror the professionally printed materials available in its offices.

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A Greener LANDFILL

LANDFILL is one magazine you won’t throw away. The environmental publication is a thought-provoking look at choices. The first issue, aptly named “Second Chances,” revolves around the theme of having a second chance at life. Take 25-year-old Jessica Weikers, for instance, who was given a second chance when she moved from her small town in Maryland to San Francisco. “I feel born again, not to be cliche, but it has really felt like starting over... like actually being able to feel real freedom and reinvent myself, grow and progress as a person. It’s funny, nobody knows how proud I am of myself,” says Jessica. Or, how about the second chance paper is given, when companies such as the Greg Barber Co. reuse it instead of dumping it into a landfill?

LANDFILL was born out of collaboration between environmentally conscious graphic designer and bicyclist Brian Ponto, Studio of Brian Ponto, and Greg Barber, known as the “EcoFriendly printer.” Barber earned this title when he changed his printing business to use postconsumer waste fiber paper after he saw a newscast announcing that paper waste is responsible for up to as much as 60% of America’s landfills.

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“The idea for LANDFILL began when Greg and I were discussing redesigning his corporate identity. We wanted to create a brochure that would provide a sample of his papers, printing, and progressive environmental processes. I presented a proposal for LANDFILL, and was lucky enough to partner with Mohawk for the first issue. It's been a total collaborative effort, with Mohawk, our vendor Digital Connection, photographer Luke Barber-Smith, Psychotropic Horizons, and web designer Bo Kim. I can't wait to begin issue 02,” says Ponto.

The thirteen stories are showcased as a visual essay within the magazine. LANDFILL’s 100% postconsumer waste pages are full of beautiful, high-resolution imagery of stories that were printed on paper pressed with wildflower seeds, using non-toxic toner. These stories were then brought to various locations throughout New York, photographed by Luke Barber-Smith of Psychotropic Horizons, and buried. In time, the paper stock will decompose and wildflowers will spring to life from the seeds, creating new life from the stories themselves.

Ponto chose to print LANDFILL on FSC certified Mohawk Options 100% PC White “for the benefits of the 100% postconsumer waste fibers, as well as the i-Tone finish because we were printing LANDFILL on an HP Indigo, which made our digital job look like a much more expensive press project.”

 

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Ponto and Barber made environmentally responsible choices throughout the production process. “Although we didn’t produce a large volume of books, every choice we made was with the environment in mind,” says Ponto.

Printing the first edition, 250 copies, of LANDFILL on Mohawk’ Options 100% PC White created an environmental savings equal to preserving 3 trees for future use, not creating 8 lbs. of waterborne waste, not generating 123 lbs. of solid waste, not consuming 1,855,326 BTU’s of energy, and preventing 242 lbs. of net greenhouse gases. Since Mohawk Options is manufactured with the use of wind-generated electricity there was an additional savings of not generating 123 lbs. of air emissions, not driving 122 miles, and planting 8 trees.

For more information, or to order copies of LANDFILL, please contact Greg Barber, greg@gregbarberco.com. LANDFILL is also available for download (http://www.brianponto.com/landfill/Landfill_2009.pdf)

 

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Paper type(s): Text
Project type: Magazine
Type of printing: Conventional offset
Equipment/Press: N/A
Industry of end-user(s): Environmental

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An Exclusive Book to Accompany an Exclusive Wine

GAJA has created some of the most coveted wines in the world, so when it came time to tell their story, nothing short of perfection would do. Rich in storytelling and accurate down to the hectare, this series of hand-bound books printed on Mohawk Superfine provides a definitive look at the winery. Incorporating illustrated maps and archival photography, the collectible books are as elegant and unique as the wine itself.

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As a fourth-generation Piedmontese winemaker, Angelo Gaja is a believer in innovation and quality. According to Wine Spectator, GAJA wines are “perhaps the finest Italian wines ever made.” Seeking the same quality in marketing partners, Terlato Wines International, the US importer of GAJA wines, and Chicago-based 50,000feet (www.50000feet.com ) worked closely together on the design of these books. "When we create materials for GAJA, it is critical that they express the quality, reputation and collectible nature of the wines,” says Laura Jensen, Vice President, Marketing and Sales, Terlato Wines International. “The history of the Gaja family wineries is illustrated in this series of books. They represent the evolution of the brand and the enduring quality of the wines themselves."

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The books were bound in red cloth to represent boldness and texture and were designed on a small scale to capture the intimacy between Angelo Gaja and his love of winemaking. “We wanted to stay true to who Angelo Gaja is while representing the quality of his wines—something he would be proud of. We chose Mohawk Superfine because of the high quality of its printing surface and the tactile feel of the uncoated sheet” says Ken Fox, Principal, 50,000feet.

Designer: 50,000feet, Chicago, Illinois
Printer: JohnsByrne, Niles, Illinois
Paper: Mohawk Superfine

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An Examination of Energy is Here

Urbanism and migration have been the topics of past issues of Here Magazine. Now, the newest edition, Here No. 3: The Energy Issue, addresses the most defining issue of our time. Creative design and straight-forward copy presents what can seem like complicated information about energy in a visually arresting way.

Iconologic, an Atlanta, Georgia-based design firm, creates the annual Here with client Cooper Carry, an architecture and planning firm. The magazine’s main function is to demonstrate the company’s thought leadership on relevant issues to its client base – developers, architects, builders, university design programs – the publication’s scope, however, looks far beyond its typical audience. “Here does what marketing can’t for the firm. By delivering original content, thoughtfully and beautifully presented, Here has helped communicate the research and insight of Cooper Carry. Cooper Carry’s president has called it ‘the most important pieces of communication media we have ever produced,’” said Matt Rollins, Creative Director, Iconologic.

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Presented in an original and relevant way with intensely creative information graphics, Here contains essays, original and excerpted journalism, photographic galleries, historical perspectives, all with a sharp focus on current subject. From Leonardo da Vinci’s first observance of solar power in 1515, to a complex calculation of the total energy expended to grow, harvest, transport, and refrigerate the contents of a countertop bowl of fruit, Here No. 3 provides a unique examination of energy as it relates to consumption, alternative resources, an impending crisis, and sustainable design. Iconologic’s Editorial Director, Juliet D’Ambrosio, says, “Every magazine, corporation and media source in 2007 addressed the issues of energy and sustainability in some way. The challenge of this project was to have a unique take on the issue, presenting ubiquitous and often hard-to-engage information in an interesting, entertaining and understandable way. Thorough research led us to a diverse table of contents meant to engage people at different levels, and to show the various relationships of people, energy and environments—and how those played out, specifically in the year 2007.”

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The sincerity of Here’s message was maintained in the paper chosen to produce the book. D’Ambrosio says, “Here has to have as much gravity and richness in its physical state as the ideas presented on its pages. It also has to be beautiful—it’s a visual publication intended to represent a visually-oriented company. So, to demonstrate commitment to sustainability, the paper (and paper company) had to reflect a exemplary commitment to the environment. By using Beckett Concept and Beckett Expression we were able to produce a very high-end coffee table piece on stocks that were 100 percent and 30 percent recycled, FSC certified, and made carbon neutral.” Producing Here on Mohawk’s Beckett papers created an immediate environmental impact equal to preserving 86 trees, saving 36,672 gallons of wastewater, not creating 249 lbs. of waterborne waste, and not consuming 61,152,337 BTUs of energy.

Here has been a success for Cooper Carry in many respects; it has led directly to new business and new recruits for the firm. “There are a few instances that have been shared with us of clients calling Cooper Carry to do projects specifically after reading a copy of Here, and new architects coming to work at the firm saying that they want to be a part of the firm that creates Here Magazine,” says D’Ambrosio.

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D’Ambrosio and the Iconologic team have also found that creating Here for Cooper Carry has had a profound effect on the company’s culture. “We hear people are more engaged, more outspoken, more willing to take a strong stand on issues they care about. And, daily, Cooper Carry is challenged to practice their profession in a way that lives up to the level of ideas expressed in Here,” says D’Ambrosio.

Through a powerfully original view in both design and content, Here holds true to its intent as is stated in its Editor’s Note, “The moments we experience are marked by the environments in which we experience them. Here Magazine explores this intersection of time and place, providing the point from which we reflect on the world around us and define our place in it—an outlet through which to channel our ideas and ideals.”

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