Case Study: Alma Italia
TRAVEL WITH SOUL
Service with integrity, curated and authentic experiences; this travel agency is fighting for the honour of their homeland, and the restoration of your soul.
MISSION
Position Alma Italia as the curator of deeper, authentic Italian experiences for discerning travellers; and increase engagement on the website.
PROCESS
Alma Italia went through strategy to identity to focus their unique brand positioning and messaging. A new brand identity and website was created to engage their ideal customer as part of a wider online marketing strategy.
ENGAGEMENT
• Brand strategy
• Brand story and high level messaging
• Brand idenity and toolkit
• Responsive website
There are hundreds of tour operators from all over the world in Italy. As a customer how do you choose, and who can you trust? As a brand how do you stand out in this crowded market? And, in a time like COVID, this is brand launch not for the faint hearted.
With so many competitors in the space, rather than just refreshing their initial website, we began with the brand strategy process to see what was truly unique and engaging. What surfaced was that Alma Italia was founded with a passion to create a better way to travel Italy—not just for the tourist, but for locals as well.
Alma Italia’s founders recognised the way tourism was being done in Italy was denigrating its reputation and not what was true about the Italian experience. They were passionate about travel as the ultimate way to rejuvenate in a busy world. The two ideas combined to create a philosophy of travel for social good, an alignment of people, place and spirit.
To gain traction. the target persona became a successful businessman who devoted his life to climbing the corporate ladder. It was time to reconnect with family and create new memories. A traveller who desired to reconnect with themselves, their relationships, and gain a new perspective. One who appreciated the good things in life, and was happy to pay for them.
Alma Italia wanted to offer an experience at the heart of Italian life—full of beauty, style, and authentic charm. To inspire creativity through fresh experiences that honoured local communities and producers, in the safety of a local guide.
Beyond a list of sites and hotels, the site tells the story of the brand—positioned to appreciate a way of life, Italian style, rest and adventure, not just a tour company.
Messaging was developed under the new guiding philosophy: The Art of Rest. The Spirit of Adventure. Travel Deeply.
The brand identity phase developed the logo as a symbol of the spiritual Italian nurturing mother contemporized from William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s, ‘Alma Parens’, conveying nourishment, family and the soul at rest. A seal of quality and integrity fit for a luxury brand.
Videos were few in the travel space, and we developed a short film like a memory of the holiday they were about to experience. Short clips for each location enhanced the immersive and emotional experience.
The strategy surfaced that everything negative about travel to Italy, could be redeemed with Alma Italia. Surface, mass tourism was the enemy of a deep travel experience, and true rest.
