Retail Refugees

I love Ace Hotels, even though I have never stayed in one- they are effortlessly cool, innovative, fun, personal, and the holy grail of branding attributes these days… “authentic.”  Meanwhile, they have the business saavy to enter the perfect segment of the market and flourish even in a recession and have diversified with intersting merchandising (Pendleton, Arkitip Mag, Generic Shoes), events (Coachella, etc), and partners.

To give you an idea of their style of communication, I am including a post from the Arkitip blog that references the hotel (via the notepad).  While this is not official communication from the brand, it is nonetheless a example of how it is integrated into the lives of the “cool” kids.

“At least four people, each with a pad and pen.
Take turns calling out a cartoon character.
Everyone has to draw the character from memory.
It’s pretty frustrating to have a very clear picture of
Fred Flintstone in your head and not be able to draw it.
Note: You must already be drunk for this to be fun.”