A completely new identity
Hotel Balga & Restaurant Hedwig
Initial situation
After working with the Grünenfelder family on the campaign for GK Grünenfelder's 75th anniversary, we were able to continue our collaboration with them on a new project: The redesign and refurbishment of their hotel including restaurant in Balgach, St.Gallen Rhine Valley. The brief was to create a bike and nature hotel that would accommodate bikers of all kinds with washing and repair stations, changing rooms etc.. In addition, hotel guests as well as external guests were to feel completely at ease in the new restaurant with a new concept. Bureau54 had the task of conceiving new names and brands for the hotel and restaurant and taking care of communications such as the website, signage and PR.
Customer
Rietstrasse 2
9436 Balgach
Result
We have integrated themes of the new direction, location and history of the hotel into the concept as well as the design, using elements such as bike and nature when introducing the new name for the hotel and restaurant. Hotel Balga, a Rhine Valley variant of the village name Balgach, and the restaurant Hedwig, a reference to the family tradition and the name of the grandmother.
We integrated the new name and CI/CD into the signage throughout the hotel, decorations, traditional print materials, digital implementation with two separate websites for the hotel and restaurant, organic and paid social media campaigns and more.
Insights
What began as a corporate design, with the vision of the interior designer, evolved into a collaborative effort in nearly every aspect of the look and feel of the restaurant and hotel. That's what Bureau54 does best: bringing our creative and marketing expertise to bear in every possible way.
An exciting part of this project was that we were able to work with the artist Jörg Engelbrecht, a former professional cyclist who has turned his hobby into his profession. We commissioned Jörg to create various works that integrate aspects of nature through color and technique. Jörg specializes in incorporating nature into his abstract art and brought our vision to life. Originally from Switzerland, Jörg moved to New Zealand 30 years ago with his wife to set up and run a sports camp for European athletes. Alongside all these achievements, they also have a daughter, our marketing assistant Enya, who has since moved back to her parents' homeland. Jörg's artwork has been used throughout the hotel as large format wallpaper and in various print formats.
This project was much more than just a corporate design and brand strategy; we worked with restoration specialists, interior designers and construction managers, to name a few, to create a cohesive, professional and exciting new look for Hotel Balga and Restaurant Hedwig.
