Placemakr

A SMARTER WAY TO STAY

WHAT WE DID

Brand Identity, Collateral Deployment, Copywriting, Motion Design, Naming, Photography by Aaron Conway, Social, Strategy & Positioning, Web & Video

Stay how you live, and experience any city like a local with Placemakr — where the perks of a hotel meet the comforts of home.
While some people vacation to escape their day-to-day, many purposeful travelers, remote professionals, and larger groups want to forge a unique connection to a new city while maintaining their personal routines. The team at WhyHotel set out to meet the needs of these thoughtful travelers by transforming hand-picked hotel rooms and apartments into highly accommodating, stylish spaces with all the comforts of home. In order to get these spaces into cities across the globe, they approached the studio looking for the brand that would get the keys into their consumers hands.
We built the Placemakr brand from the foundation up. In addition to creating a clear, memorable name they can own, we repositioned and streamlined the brand persona, story, and pillars to make a clear brand promise: With Placemakr, you can stay how you live, and experience any city like a local.
Placemakr’s target clientele marches to the beat of their own highly sophisticated drum, so we built the brand’s logo, color palette, and website around similarly distinct, cool, and bold tones. To differentiate Placemakr from the industry-standard quirky concierge, we strategically positioned the brand’s tone of voice to convey a more authentic, professional, yet “impossibly cool” connection to the city. Carrying this persona over to videography, the promotional video delivers the company’s bold manifesto by pairing on-screen text with aspirational travel photography, catching and keeping the attention of the casual scroller–even if their phone is on mute. Because Placemakr’s consumers are interested in truly living where they stay, the photography gives equal attention to the space’s thoughtfully designed interiors and the city’s attractions and unique character. Any interaction with Placemakr’s assets promises an authentic, seamless, immersive experience where the perks of a hotel meet the comforts of home.
Featured on Brand New.

LIZ THORSON SENIOR DIRECTOR OF BRAND AND COMMUNICATIONS, PLACEMAKR

“When we started the journey to bring the Old Spice Barbershop to life, it became very clear that there was no other partner besides Durham who could hep bring our vision to life. Austin & his team are truly the ideal brand partners. What I appreciated most was their humbleness & ability to listen + be empathetic to our needs.

Durham’s team excels at their ability to translate feedback + turn around creative solutions on incredibly fast timing. Durham’s willingness to go above & beyond is a testament to their entire shop’s talent & capabilities. Their creativity is infectious & the work helped create a positive “upcycle” of peer pressure amongst our other creative + brand partners. When we finally opened our doors, I told Austin the work exceeded even our highest expectations.”

STRATEGY

We built the Placemakr brand from the foundation up. In addition to creating a clear, memorable name they can own, we repositioned and streamlined the brand persona, story, and pillars to make a clear brand promise: With Placemakr, you can stay how you live, and experience any city like a local.