Jaz in the City is one of our most vibrant brands and one that has stayed true to its original vision through every touchpoint as it has grown from the original hotel in Amsterdam with new properties across Europe and beyond.
It all started when parent group Deutsche Hospitality (then Steigenberger Hotel Group) approached us to create a distinctive, experience-led brand for them that would help them expand the existing Jaz portfolio (already established as a luxury resort brand in Egypt) into Europe in a way that made sense. Fast-forward to today, and we’re still admiring how amazing it all turned out.
After lots of collaboration with Deutsche Hospitality, QUO’s strategy team came up with the ‘In tune, but offbeat’ Jaz in the City, an experiential brand that promised to sync global travellers into the rhythm of the locale. Borrowing heavily from jazz culture, because you should never look a gift horse in the mouth, the resultant brand celebrates art and music and uses improvisation to stay fresh and ‘tuned in’.
Brand strategy and culture
Logo and visual identity
Tone of voice
Promotional design
Brand video
Jaz already had a name and a logo—a pure letterform with Arabian-style serifs. We took it and modernised it by separating its cursive letters to improve legibility and accessibility.
For the colour, black was out—only royal purple would do to give Jaz a luxurious feel. ‘In the City’ was used as a descriptor to differentiate properties from their Egyptian cousins. The logo works both without the descriptor and with the property location, as pictured. A secondary colour of Orange—or oranje, if you prefer—was used to reflect Jaz Amsterdam’s Dutch pride.
There was no place for tired old stationery and boring ‘do not disturb’ signs at Jaz. Amenities invite guests to “Make your jaz hands sparkle” (soap) and “Clean up your act” (shower gel). All around the hotel, the brand voice works with the rich royal purple for a brand experience that hits every note. Even in longer form, Jaz copy’s got that swing.
The brand video for Jaz posed a problem we often have: what do you feature in a video if there’s no product? The answer is either stock footage or animation, so we went with the former to convey Jaz’s dedication to the locale. Using footage of Amsterdam cut together with ‘improv’ takes and a jazzy saxophone-led soundtrack, the result is fun, quirky and a little off-beat, with onscreen text to help pull all the traits together. Are you ‘jaz-y’ enough for this?
