Pixel8 beats US rivals to InterContinental Hotels brief
Manchester agency Pixel8 has beaten off competition from American rivals to work with InterContinental Hotels Group on a refresh of its Hotel Indigo brand.
Pixel8 won the "six-figure" contract after a four-way pitch against US agencies Design Continuum, Marshall Strategy and Brand Logic.
The Northern Quarter agency, which was appointed after a postal submission and telephone pitch, will now report to Ed Thorne, Hotel Indigo's Atlanta-based director of global brand management.
Pixel8's joint managing director Jamie Watson said the modest Manchester agency had managed to work its way onto the pitch list having made contact with Thorne when he previously worked in the UK.
"Ed Thorne was previously a global brand manager for InterContinental Hotels & Resorts based in London and we made the trip down to show him our portfolio," Watson said. "Whilst he was impressed with the portfolio, there was no immediate requirements for our services.
"Four years later, we got a call from America asking us to pitch for a branding contract. We didn't know at the time that we would be the only UK agency on the list."
Thorne said Hotel Indigo's brand refresh was intended to "cement its position as an upscale branded boutique product".
He said he appointed Pixel8 on the back of the agency's "track record" and also because it offered "a greater degree of flexibility than the larger agencies".
"I have a personal preference for smaller agencies as they offer better access to the senior figures and they are more cost effective," Thorne said.
"Once I showed Pixel8's proposal to the Atlanta-based senior management team, I had no trouble convincing them that this Manchester agency would deliver the highest calibre of work."
Pixel8 will be responsible for "defining the overarching principles of the brand identity", preparing the guidelines for all in-hotel materials and developing toolkits to help deliver the look and feel across the internationally franchised brand.
To accommodate the account the agency said it had taken on three new staff.
Worldwide 33 Hotel Indigos have opened since 2004. London’s Paddington is home to the UK’s first and Glasgow and Liverpool openings are scheduled this year. Internationally, a further seven launches are planned this year, including Vancouver and Shanghai.