30 : 09 : 22 : Weekly Debrief

US – The iconic Hermitage Hotel unveiled a new face that is fresh and playful while echoing the Nashville-based hotel’s rich history.

The Hermitage Hotel has collaborated with creative studio Mucca to modernise its visual identity while celebrating its past. The hotel, which is classified as a National Historic Landmark, played a role in advocating for women’s rights in the 1920s.The updated branding is a nod to the past, namely through a new customised typeface called Suffragette and the use of bright yellow, a colour symbolising the movement. The hotel’s messaging is adopting a laid-back tone; for instance, swapping traditional ‘Do not Disturb’ door hangers for ‘No, thanks’ or ‘Please tidy up my room’ for ‘Yes, please’.

‘We were able to honour the original spirit of the building, using the right mix of reverence and irreverence to help it reclaim its moment in history,’ explains Mucca founder Matteo Bologna. An increasing number of luxury institutions want to see their Heritage Refashioned, but striking the right balance between brand legacy and relevance for tomorrow’s consumers can be a challenge.

South Africa – Merging sport with socialising, cycling brotherhood Biking Bandits has teamed up with brandy company Klipdrift on a campaign spotlighting the benefits of ‘social riding’ for South African communities.

Part of Klipdrift’s Friends with Purpose series dedicated to powerful tales of friendship, the campaign showcases cycling in a different setting from the typical media portrayal. The film follows the founders of Biking Bandits in the streets of Soweto as they explain how they created a community dedicated to 'bringing cycling back to the hood' to mitigate the pandemic-induced loneliness.

Biking Bandits actively promotes freedom of movement and aims to shake up the stereotypes around cycling’s representation in the media. ‘The face of cycling in South Africa has been predominantly white and [Biking Bandits] is reinforcing that this is an activity everyone can participate in, wearing what they want and cycling in whatever spaces they want to,’ says Dylan Davies, creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi South Africa.

Speaking to Neo-collectivists, the initiative shows how next-generation communities can redefine and decolonise the shape of sports like cycling.