Ritz-Carlton unveils new brand ‘voice’

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company unveiled a newly designed brand logo and brand voice that will be implemented across all guest touch points over the next year.

The move to clarify, simplify and amplify the luxury brand’s identity comes after a decade of brand evolution and has been created to purposefully maintain the iconic luxury hotel company’s position with a new generation of guests globally. This is the first time in the 32 year history of The Ritz-Carlton that any changes have been made to the revered lion and crown.

“Today we celebrate a defining moment in the legacy of The Ritz-Carlton with an updated brand logo, and a new blue” said Hervé Humler, President and Chief Operating Officer, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. and one of the brand’s founders.

The Ritz-Carlton assessed the need to evolve and over the last ten years, significant changes made have seen positive corresponding shifts in key brand metrics. Everything from the brand’s design strategy, the locations selected to open new hotels, the service style, grooming standards and the removal of the formal dining experience have all been re-designed, re-invented or replaced. There is evidence to suggest that by identifying shifts and leading change, the brand had, and has, the potential to continue to benefit today just like it has in the past. “We believe as an iconic brand that it is our responsibility to provide thought-leadership to drive change in the luxury and hospitality arena,” continued Humler.

At its inception, The Ritz-Carlton was known exclusively as a hotel company. Today, the organization has developed several very successful brand extensions which include Residences, Destination Clubs, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, a Leadership Center, Retail, Golf Clubs and a philanthropic foundation, Community Footprints.

Ed French, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for The Ritz-Carlton added “as a brand that aims to lead the way for luxury, we didn’t wait for emphatic data to tell us there was a problem to fix. Instead, we took a leadership point of view and conducted global studies, not on where luxury has been, but where it is going – to shine a light for the others to follow.”

Instead of viewing legacy as something that brands inherit, The Ritz-Carlton believes the more powerful form of legacy is one that is written by brands in the present; the ones writing history, not just reading from it every day. The purpose and the values of the brand have not changed; it still strives to create precious memories and to meet the tastes of a new generation of consumers. The new brand voice represents a more modern understanding of legacy. While rooted and inspired by the past, it has purpose and meaning in the present.