brands city guides
brands city guides
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City Guides As travel becomes more and more accessible, we see a shift towards satisfaction of a mobile nomad–a citizen/nedizen who circles the globe for work and leisure. Let’s face it, city guides are becoming hot, and its evident within publishing and retail sectors. Brands like LV, Monocle and Vogue and Marriott leverage global outreach and digital channels to cater to diverse demographic hungry to consume places they wish to explore. So what are city guides like? They are 1. highly visual, 2. Incorporate opinions/commentary from industry influencer, 3. Do not favor a popular medium. In this report, Brandinquiry looks at recent ventures launched by fashion, retail and publishing brands.
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brands city guides in this report City Guides:
Opinions from: (beta)
Monocle Kinfolk Louis Vuitton Vogue Cereal Wallpaper Etsy Marriott
Executive at Plastic Mobile
The Good Stuff: Fast Facts Recommendations
Executive at Marriott Hotels Principal at Hypeakt Travel journalist Jack Southan Luxury journalist Johnatan Luc
brands city guides 01/02 City Guides Following Wallpaper’s City guides, other brands in luxury retail and publishing started engaging audiences though curated travel guides. In this section, we will look at digital and print initiatives employed by lifestyle, travel, fashion and publishing brands.
brands city guides legend Link to webpage
About this webpage
Etsy City Guides
Other campaign details
City Guides main page
About. The Etsy City Guides were curated by Etsy Wholesale after taking a road trip to each featured city. These guides are meant to shine light on and pay homage to
the unique retail shops all over the country that stock their shelves with products made by Etsy sellers. Print Magazine, 2015
View site
Year: 2014 Price: Free Partner: Hyperakt Digital: Web
“They were look-
webpage screenshot
“
Quotes
ing for an effective way of bringing city guides they had previously done in print to the digital space and On the Grid was the perfect solution.
Deroy Peraza, Hyperakt
The Designer’s Neghborhood guide Originally “On the Grid” Year: 2015 Studio: Hyperakt Digital: Web
About. Brooklyn-based design studio Hyperakt was moving to Gowanus and they wanted to “get to know the hidden gems in our new neighborhood.” Eric Fensterheim, a designer at Hyperakt at the time, suggested they design and create their own
neighborhood guide as a self-initiated project. He designed the interface and others in the studio created the brand and a larger ecosystem for many neighborhood guides.
Print Magazine, 2015
Wallpaper City Guides
Guides overview Year: 2009 Price: $11.95
About. Under stylish Pantone covers, these pocket-sized travel bibles reveal a city’s hippest nightlife, buzziest hotels, coolest retail, most influential art galleries and cultural spaces and the best in local
design and contemporary architecture. The Wallpaper* City Guides series covers more than 100 destinations, from Atlanta to Zurich.
Print: Paperback Mobile: App
View site
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Wallpaper City Guides
View site
Product listings page
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Wallpaper City Guides
View site
Product page
Image above: Spread from guide
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Vogue City Guides
City Guide page Year: 2015 Sponsor: Estée Lauder
About. Today marks the debut of the Vogue City Directory, a mobile-responsive, super selective guide to where to shop, eat, and prettify oneself in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Milan, and Shang-
hai. This is a modest launch—six cities and a handful of listings—but in the weeks and months to come it will grow in numbers of recommendations and locations. Vogue, 2015
View site
Print: Paperback Digital: Web App
“Vogue’s City
Directory is a mobile-responsive guide that provides its users with a simple user experience by making use of native and hybrid capabilities...
“
Melody Adhami, Plastic Mobile
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Vogue City Guides
View site
Selected city page
“The great thing
about mobile is with the limited screen real-estate and on-the-go users with short attention spans, a brand can have a much greater impact by including consistent presence rather than a one-off splash ad. Estée Lauder will definitely benefit from the numerous ads especially since they are not competing with another brand.”
“
Melody Adhami, Plastic Mobile
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Vogue City Guides
View site
Selected location page
“This sort of listed
content is beneficial to Estée Lauder because the repetition of ads throughout the content help the brand make an impact in case the ad at the top of the page doesn’t catch the user’s eye.
“
Melody Adhami, Plastic Mobile
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LV City Guide
City Guides page Year: 2016 Price: £7.99
About. Today marks the debut of the Vogue City Directory, a mobile-responsive, super selective guide to where to shop, eat, and prettify oneself in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Milan, and Shang-
hai. This is a modest launch—six cities and a handful of listings—but in the weeks and months to come it will grow in numbers of recommendations and locations. Vogue, 2015
View site
Print: Paperback Digital: Web App
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LV City Guide
View site
Selected city page
“Intuitive and
simple to use, the app will include special guest contributors, secret addresses and information regarding cultural events.
“
Johnatan Luk, Highsnobiety
View site
Selected product page
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Kinfolk City Guide
City Guide main page Year: 2011
About. Today marks the debut of the Vogue City Directory, a mobile-responsive, super selective guide to where to shop, eat, and prettify oneself in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Milan, and Shang-
hai. This is a modest launch—six cities and a handful of listings—but in the weeks and months to come it will grow in numbers of recommendations and locations. Vogue, 2015
View site
Digital: Web
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Kinfolk City Guide
View site
Selected City page
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Kinfolk City Guide
View site
Selected location page
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Monocle City Guide
City Guides main page Year: 2016 Price: ÂŁ10
About. The Monocle Travel Guide series reveals our favourite places in each city we cover, from the ideal route for an early-morning run and the best spots for independent retail to detailed design and architecture pages and neighbourhood
walks to get you away from the crowds. And taking in everything from established city icons to hard-to-find new favourites, we’ll also advise you on where to eat, drink and sleep. Monocle, 2015
View site
Print: Hardcover Publisher: Gestalten
PDF Report
Learn more about Monocle products.
View site
City Guides Product page
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Cereal City Guide
City Guides main page Year: 2014 Price: ÂŁ8.00
About. Guided by Cereal is a curated city guide where each recommended location is visited so Guided by Cereal can personally vouch for its merits. You’ll find all of the practical advice you need on where to stay, where to eat, what to see, and where to shop. Another Country, 2015
Print: Paperback Digital: Web
View site
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Cereal City Guide
View site
City Guides product page
“Inside Guided,
View site
you’ll find a few essays regarding the city and its personality, a plethora of high quality photography, and a fair number of interesting hotels, shops, restaurants, and locations to visit while on your trip.
Image: TheNewsPrint.co
“
Josh Ginter, TheNewsPrint.co
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Etsy City Guides
City Guides main page
About. The Etsy City Guides were curated by Etsy Wholesale after taking a road trip to each featured city. These guides are meant to shine light on and pay homage to
the unique retail shops all over the country that stock their shelves with products made by Etsy sellers. Print Magazine, 2015
Year: 2015 Price: Free Partner: Hyperakt
View site
Digital: Web
“They were look-
ing for an effective way of bringing city guides they had previously done in print to the digital space and On the Grid was the perfect solution.
“
Deroy Peraza, Hyperakt
The Designer’s Neghborhood guide Originally “On the Grid” Year: 2015
About. Brooklyn-based design studio Hyperakt was moving to Gowanus and they wanted to “get to know the hidden gems in our new neighborhood.” Eric Fensterheim, a designer at Hyperakt at the time, suggested they design and create their
own neighborhood guide as a self-initiated project. He designed the interface and others in the studio created the brand and a larger ecosystem for many neighborhood guides. Print Magazine, 2015
View site
Studio: Hyperakt Digital: Web
20
Etsy City Guides
View site
City Guides selected city page
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Etsy City Guides
View site
Selected location page
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Marriot City Guides
City Guides main page Year: 2015
About. The exclusive city guides feature Berlin, Taipei, Paris, Cairo, and Portland and showcase vivid destination shots while detailing the best cultural landmarks, locals’ favorite restaurants, shops, bars, clubs, as well as the city’s Marriott Hotels
property. In addition to the destination guides, the Marriott and VSCO are introducing a handpicked collection of travel photos from the VSCO community, selected by Marriott Hotels. Marriot, 2015
Digital: Web Partner: VSCO
View site
VSCO® (Visual Supply Company) is an art and technology company empowering people everywhere to create, discover, and connect. Headquartered in Oakland, CA, with an office in New York City, NY the company was founded in 2011 and acquired Denver, CO-based Artifact Uprising® in 2014.
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Marriot City Guides
View site
Selected city page
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brands city guides 02/02 The Good Stuff: Fast Facts Recomendations
About this section:
In this section features relevant facts on each campaign/partnership and an provides recommendations for your own campaigns, inspired by featured brands.
Brandinquiry: City Guides
Fast Facts Sheet
Vogue City Guides
Wallpaper City Guides
LV City Guides
1. Launched in 2016 2. Available only in digital format 3. Supports mobile experience 4. Content provided by fashion designers, Vogue staff, models, exclusive influencers.
1. Launched in 2011 2. Available in print and digital formats 3. Content provided by fashion designers, Vogue staff, models, exclusive influencers.
1. Launched in 2015 2. Available in print and web 3. iPhone app available 4. The first luxury brand to launch a range of travel guides, Louis Vuitton is celebrating 15 years of its City Guides
Kinfolk City Guides
Monocle City Guides
Marriot City Guides
1. Launched in 2011 2. Available only online 3. Content presented in interview format
1. Launched in 2015 2. Available in hardcover print only 3. Published in collaboration with Gestalten
1. Launched in 2015 2. Available in online only 3. Photographic, editorial narrative 4. Campaign published in collaboration with technology company VSCO
Etsy City Guides
Cereal City Guides
1. Launched in 2014 2. Available online only, mobile friendly 3. Content published in partnership with Hyperakt
1. Launched in 2014 2. Available in paperback and web formats 3. Content features visual and editorial essays by influencers from each city
Brandinquiry: City Guides
Recommendations
1. Incorporate appropriate guides that reflect your brand’s mission.
Each brand appropriates travel guides to fit their unique mission. For example, Etsy Wholesale features exclusive retail locations across Europe and the U.S. in order to maintain it’s positioning as a supporter of independent retail organizations/ individual brands. This digital strategy contributes to Etsy’s mission and allows cross-geographic reach to potential customers, “These guides offer visual inspiration from talented VSCO photographers, connecting and sparking conversation from travelers around the world...” (Matthew Carroll)
2. Collaborate with influencers
Influencers are becoming the new advocates for brands and collaborating with them could be an asset for your campaign. Partner with personalities that attract audiences and offer them partnership that reflects your brand’s values and adds value to both of you. Autheniticity is a critical element of trust and projecting your brand though the lens of the influencer could have a positive outcome. A great example of this approach is partnership between Marriot and VSCO, which aims to “inspire people to travel...”,“...the companies are launching a set of curated travel guides for five iconic cities around the world that combine stunning imagery with in-the-know recommendations. The guides pair local VSCO photographers with expert travel writers to give visitors a highly visual and insightful guide to the culture, experiences and unknown secrets of each city.” LV, “Each Louis Vuitton City Guide includes the participation of a special guest contributor, who all speak from personal experience of their home cities. Local celebrities or insiders, they take the reader on a personal exploration of their city, along the way sharing tips on their favorite spots: a first person singular initiation to the city.” (LV)
3. Medium is the message
“Books are portable, durable, love us to scribble in them and fit snuggly in hand luggage. They sit on our living-room coffee tables, reminding us we’re heading overseas soon, like airline tickets (also being phased out) used to. They don’t need charging. They smell nice.” (Telegraph ) Print isn’t dead. If you believe print can create an intimate connection with your audience, consider such a route. Whether it’s hardcover or paperback, it always retains it’s physical form, unlike digital.
4. Ask quesitons
Does it make sense for you to create ‘just another city guide’? As much as it is a trend to cater to the mobile nomad/traveler, it’s important to consider what your customer/reader values. How might the guide be different? Will the guide help them discover something different about your brand and set you apart from everyone else in the market? It’s easy to jump on the waggon, but will it take you where you want to go?
appendix: about
Vol 02, Ed 01 Jan 2016
Masthead
Brands X City Guides City Guides is a short, informal research document that aims to provide relevant information and key takeaways on ways brands engage with audiences though curated city guides.
Research, Design & Production Ivan Kostynyk
Other Reports Coming Soon:
Monocle & Winkreative Report
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