Following a custom research program for Exclusive Resorts, we crafted a differentiating brand strategy that reinforced the luxury image and informed a range of future communications.

Situation

Founded in 2002, Exclusive Resorts was conceived as a new idea in hospitality: to combine the best things about staying in vacation homes with the best things about staying in luxury resorts — while eliminating the disadvantages of both.

While other offers in the marketplace such as the Ritz Carlton club and time-share businesses were well-entrenched, membership-based Exclusive Resorts needed to hone their message and better define the offer and customer.

Solution

We developed a custom research program to examine the marketplace and survey three important groups: existing members, prospective members who had expressed an interest in Exclusive Resorts, and potential members singled out by their demographic profile. Our survey identified current perceptions of Exclusive Resorts and competitor brands, desired features and attributes and price/value perceptions for the Exclusive Resorts offer.

The findings allowed us to articulate a clear set of personality, culture and service attributes that distinguished Exclusive Resorts from competitors and reinforced the luxury destination image. The research also identified a customer segmentation opportunity to grow the business by permitting a lower-level entry commitment into the program without lowering the high standards and quality that represented the Exclusive Resorts brand.

CoreBrand worked with Exclusive Resorts and their agency to implement the strategy through communications.