You might think citizenM is an odd name for a hotel.
It’s not named after an American politician turned hotel tycoon (Conrad Hilton). Or an ex-root beer salesman who became a restaurateur (John Willard Marriott).
The brand was born out of rebellion against these well-known pillars of an outdated industry. The founders had spent their working lives shacking up in countless four star hotels around the planet. Paying for sluggish wi-fi. Dealing with obsequious, uniformed staff behind mahogany desks in garish lobbies. Lying in uncomfortable beds gazing at questionable art. Trying to decode an outmoded star system.
The industry was, they reasoned correctly, ripe for ripping up.
Before creating the citizenM name and voice, we started with a desire to disrupt, which gave us license to reimagine everything other hotels did. We knew we needed a brand, a name and a tone of voice that broke away from every facet of the status quo.
Seventeen years ago, in the days before Gen-Z and Millennials were household terms, there wasn’t a demographic that existed in terminology for us to focus on. Not only did we know they existed, they were the focal point of the brand and all elements of the citizenM experience.
So we gave them a name: mobile citizens.
For emails and cocktails
The focus on this audience was instrumental not only in the development of the brand, but also in the design of the actual hotel. It features everything you need and nothing you don’t. The room is compact, but the bed is the size of a small country. An iPad controls everything (except a luddite’s temper; we are not for everyone).
Lobbies were put out to pasture and replaced by living rooms stuffed with design objects where you could work, relax and socialise. A partnership with Swiss furniture brand Vitra means you’re not sinking into an uncomfortable sofa; you’re lounging in an Eames or a Girard. Art became central, with eclectic collections inside, and a showcase of local artists on the outside.
The experience was built around the very real desires of the modern traveller, not the presumed needs of a fading demographic. We sketched out their story further. Back in 2006, we targeted an untapped audience who travelled often (this was the age of flourishing budget airlines and less flying-shame). They cross the world as easily as others cross the road. They came for a business trip but snuck in a cheeky gallery visit or a trip to a restaurant they’d heard about on Yahoo! (again, this was 2006). The hospitality world has caught up and given them a suitably cringeworthy portmanteau: bleisure, blending both business and leisure.
With a hotel designed from the ground up and around the guest, it was a small leap towards naming the hotel after them. ‘citizen’ reflects the hotel’s egalitarian approach to luxury, which is deemed more affordable, and ‘mobile’ embodies their adventurous spirit. citizenM was born.
Turning the hotel into a mode of expression
The unusual capitalisation (lower case c, upper case M) mirrored the logo which follows the same rule.
The identity features stylised versions of guests in all their guises - the business citizen, cultural citizen and so on. Their characterisation is deliberately un-hotel-like. The cultural citizen has a museum in her belly. The dual toilet citizens can best be described as 18th century rococo with toilet roll wigs. These mini citizens appear on everything from keycards to toilet signs and the website.
The intention was to turn the hotel into a medium. 250 guests, give or take, would sleep there every night. If they notice your brand and ‘get’ your voice, even through their bleary, jet-lagged eyes, then they will spread the word. At the same time, there wasn’t any media budget or any chance to announce the hotel beyond press coverage, meaning the hotel itself was our sole source for communication.
Necessity became the concierge of invention.
Because KesselsKramer comes from a communications background, the verbal side of the identity was treated with as much reverence as the visual. Our designers and art directors are one and the same. Our copywriters are similarly multi-disciplined, able to turn their hand to strategic insights and identity-based writing, as well as crafting ad campaigns. Writing headlines for out of home was great, writing words for menus and lift signs was even more satisfying.
The traditional hospitality industry already had all these opportunities, throughout the guest journey, but didn’t take advantage. Do Not Disturb signs said exactly that - in disdainfully corporate colours. Playfulness was missing, unusual for a sector that trades on personality.
The more surprising the medium, the better. Soap packaging was fair game (where better to read a story than in a shower?). The medium inspired the message. No one previously cared or bothered to print a message on a hairdryer bag, as far as we knew.
The tone of voice came fairly naturally, thanks to the brand’s strong fundaments. Never condescending. Never too reverential. Worldly, wise and witty. Importantly, citizenM never claimed to be a hotel for everyone, giving us freedom to be a little cheekier or more obscure or weirder than we might normally be. It helped to be a challenger in a fairly pedestrian category, and to this day, citizenM remains a brand that challenges that status quo.
As part of the brand language, we use ‘citizenM says:’ to introduce headlines in communication or statements on hotel collateral such as menus. This isn’t an affectation, it’s simply to personalise the copy. This is a human hotel, talking to humans; giving a bit of travel advice; telling you about itself; asking you about yourself.
Room for feel-good moments
Because citizenM’s ethos is formed from a celebration of the audience, we surmised that this same audience will celebrate citizenM in return. Luck played a role. Facebook launched around 2006. Social media helped citizenM gain fans through this reciprocal appreciation. Guests would capture their stay and the moments that made them smile. We created a doormat (we love doormats, they are our billboards) with the line: citizenM says: nice shoes. And then Instagram arrived, turning them into the most valuable medium we had as guests sharing foot selfies to mark their arrival in a new city.
A brand’s voice is as imperfect as we all are, or should be. Sometimes it gets too whimsical or strays off-topic. Or too dull. But that’s human. It’s ok to make mistakes - despite the unforgiving gladiatorial arena that is social media.
The ebb and flow of any brand’s messaging isn’t a bug, it’s a feature, and something that’s necessary as the audience grows and changes. For better or worse, the mobile citizen of 2006 lived in a very different world to the one we inhabit today. It’s important that the brand, experience and tone of voice can flex and develop to meet the needs of the mobile citizens of the world as it changes.
A good example is when Trump came into office (the first time around). With the change in global rhetoric, citizenM’s challenger perspective could have been misconstrued as cynical, and felt off-colour in a divided world. Our tone evolved to become more open and welcoming.
It led us to start using the windows of all the properties as exhibition spaces to portray the locals from each neighbourhood where citizenM calls home. This new way of making the hotel the primary medium, is something we continue in each city.
What we have learned in the twenty years since the brief hit our desks, is that how you speak is as important as how you look. There are 36 citizenM hotels and counting, a careful growth that allows the brand to remain true to itself. The properties can be found in Miami and Kuala Lumpur, London and Los Angeles and each one is a citizen of its own city – made to be a part of the lives of residents as much as it is a place for mobile citizens to sleep (exceptionally well). While the venues change, the core offering remains the same: everything you need, nothing you don’t. And the way citizenM talks continues to be unmistakably human, even when speaking from a doormat’s point of view.
Dave Bell is a writer and creative partner of KesselsKramer and created this article with some valuable input from Hannah Jones Walters, Managing Director of KesselsKramer London. Dave – alongside multiple talented folk – developed the voice of citizenM.
citizenM has 36 hotels in its portfolio and continues to bring its disruptive force to new cities.
KesselsKramer is a design & communication agency in London and Amsterdam that likes to work with challenger brands, or brands that like to challenge the status quo.
You might think citizenM is an odd name for a hotel.
It’s not named after an American politician turned hotel tycoon (Conrad Hilton). Or an ex-root beer salesman who became a restaurateur (John Willard Marriott).
The brand was born out of rebellion against these well-known pillars of an outdated industry. The founders had spent their working lives shacking up in countless four star hotels around the planet. Paying for sluggish wi-fi. Dealing with obsequious, uniformed staff behind mahogany desks in garish lobbies. Lying in uncomfortable beds gazing at questionable art. Trying to decode an outmoded star system.
The industry was, they reasoned correctly, ripe for ripping up.
Before creating the citizenM name and voice, we started with a desire to disrupt, which gave us license to reimagine everything other hotels did. We knew we needed a brand, a name and a tone of voice that broke away from every facet of the status quo.
Seventeen years ago, in the days before Gen-Z and Millennials were household terms, there wasn’t a demographic that existed in terminology for us to focus on. Not only did we know they existed, they were the focal point of the brand and all elements of the citizenM experience.
So we gave them a name: mobile citizens.
For emails and cocktails
The focus on this audience was instrumental not only in the development of the brand, but also in the design of the actual hotel. It features everything you need and nothing you don’t. The room is compact, but the bed is the size of a small country. An iPad controls everything (except a luddite’s temper; we are not for everyone).
Lobbies were put out to pasture and replaced by living rooms stuffed with design objects where you could work, relax and socialise. A partnership with Swiss furniture brand Vitra means you’re not sinking into an uncomfortable sofa; you’re lounging in an Eames or a Girard. Art became central, with eclectic collections inside, and a showcase of local artists on the outside.
The experience was built around the very real desires of the modern traveller, not the presumed needs of a fading demographic. We sketched out their story further. Back in 2006, we targeted an untapped audience who travelled often (this was the age of flourishing budget airlines and less flying-shame). They cross the world as easily as others cross the road. They came for a business trip but snuck in a cheeky gallery visit or a trip to a restaurant they’d heard about on Yahoo! (again, this was 2006). The hospitality world has caught up and given them a suitably cringeworthy portmanteau: bleisure, blending both business and leisure.
With a hotel designed from the ground up and around the guest, it was a small leap towards naming the hotel after them. ‘citizen’ reflects the hotel’s egalitarian approach to luxury, which is deemed more affordable, and ‘mobile’ embodies their adventurous spirit. citizenM was born.
Turning the hotel into a mode of expression
The unusual capitalisation (lower case c, upper case M) mirrored the logo which follows the same rule.
The identity features stylised versions of guests in all their guises - the business citizen, cultural citizen and so on. Their characterisation is deliberately un-hotel-like. The cultural citizen has a museum in her belly. The dual toilet citizens can best be described as 18th century rococo with toilet roll wigs. These mini citizens appear on everything from keycards to toilet signs and the website.
The intention was to turn the hotel into a medium. 250 guests, give or take, would sleep there every night. If they notice your brand and ‘get’ your voice, even through their bleary, jet-lagged eyes, then they will spread the word. At the same time, there wasn’t any media budget or any chance to announce the hotel beyond press coverage, meaning the hotel itself was our sole source for communication.
Necessity became the concierge of invention.
Because KesselsKramer comes from a communications background, the verbal side of the identity was treated with as much reverence as the visual. Our designers and art directors are one and the same. Our copywriters are similarly multi-disciplined, able to turn their hand to strategic insights and identity-based writing, as well as crafting ad campaigns. Writing headlines for out of home was great, writing words for menus and lift signs was even more satisfying.
The traditional hospitality industry already had all these opportunities, throughout the guest journey, but didn’t take advantage. Do Not Disturb signs said exactly that - in disdainfully corporate colours. Playfulness was missing, unusual for a sector that trades on personality.
The more surprising the medium, the better. Soap packaging was fair game (where better to read a story than in a shower?). The medium inspired the message. No one previously cared or bothered to print a message on a hairdryer bag, as far as we knew.
The tone of voice came fairly naturally, thanks to the brand’s strong fundaments. Never condescending. Never too reverential. Worldly, wise and witty. Importantly, citizenM never claimed to be a hotel for everyone, giving us freedom to be a little cheekier or more obscure or weirder than we might normally be. It helped to be a challenger in a fairly pedestrian category, and to this day, citizenM remains a brand that challenges that status quo.
As part of the brand language, we use ‘citizenM says:’ to introduce headlines in communication or statements on hotel collateral such as menus. This isn’t an affectation, it’s simply to personalise the copy. This is a human hotel, talking to humans; giving a bit of travel advice; telling you about itself; asking you about yourself.
Room for feel-good moments
Because citizenM’s ethos is formed from a celebration of the audience, we surmised that this same audience will celebrate citizenM in return. Luck played a role. Facebook launched around 2006. Social media helped citizenM gain fans through this reciprocal appreciation. Guests would capture their stay and the moments that made them smile. We created a doormat (we love doormats, they are our billboards) with the line: citizenM says: nice shoes. And then Instagram arrived, turning them into the most valuable medium we had as guests sharing foot selfies to mark their arrival in a new city.
A brand’s voice is as imperfect as we all are, or should be. Sometimes it gets too whimsical or strays off-topic. Or too dull. But that’s human. It’s ok to make mistakes - despite the unforgiving gladiatorial arena that is social media.
The ebb and flow of any brand’s messaging isn’t a bug, it’s a feature, and something that’s necessary as the audience grows and changes. For better or worse, the mobile citizen of 2006 lived in a very different world to the one we inhabit today. It’s important that the brand, experience and tone of voice can flex and develop to meet the needs of the mobile citizens of the world as it changes.
A good example is when Trump came into office (the first time around). With the change in global rhetoric, citizenM’s challenger perspective could have been misconstrued as cynical, and felt off-colour in a divided world. Our tone evolved to become more open and welcoming.
It led us to start using the windows of all the properties as exhibition spaces to portray the locals from each neighbourhood where citizenM calls home. This new way of making the hotel the primary medium, is something we continue in each city.
What we have learned in the twenty years since the brief hit our desks, is that how you speak is as important as how you look. There are 36 citizenM hotels and counting, a careful growth that allows the brand to remain true to itself. The properties can be found in Miami and Kuala Lumpur, London and Los Angeles and each one is a citizen of its own city – made to be a part of the lives of residents as much as it is a place for mobile citizens to sleep (exceptionally well). While the venues change, the core offering remains the same: everything you need, nothing you don’t. And the way citizenM talks continues to be unmistakably human, even when speaking from a doormat’s point of view.
Dave Bell is a writer and creative partner of KesselsKramer and created this article with some valuable input from Hannah Jones Walters, Managing Director of KesselsKramer London. Dave – alongside multiple talented folk – developed the voice of citizenM.
citizenM has 36 hotels in its portfolio and continues to bring its disruptive force to new cities.
KesselsKramer is a design & communication agency in London and Amsterdam that likes to work with challenger brands, or brands that like to challenge the status quo.
Further Reading
