Four Seasons Rebrands Its Retail Hospitality Business With New Campaign
● The campaign was created by Lina Kutsovskaya and features Gemma Ward.
Four Seasons is doubling down its focus on its retail hospitality business with a rebranding and repositioning campaign, “Four Seasons at Home,” to bring more affluent Millennials into the fold.
The retail hospitality businesses in the U.S. falls under the new leadership of Marc Speichert, chief commercial officer, and Julie Bourgeois, senior vice president, retail.
Four Seasons worked with creative director Lina Kutsovskaya of Be Good Studios (a close collaborator of the late Virgil Abloh who created the Louis
Vuitton “Towards a Dream” and Abloh's menswear campaigns). She was previously executive vice president, global marketing and creative at Calvin Klein and did the #MyCalvins campaigns, too.
Ads were photographed by Zoe Ghertner, who has shot for Miu Miu,
Chanel and Celine, and feature model Gemma Ward for her first major international campaign since retiring in 2009-2010. Ghertner photographed the entire campaign at the Four Seasons' new Tamarindo resort in Mexico.
“We launched this retail business in 2019, and the growth has been really remarkable,” said Bourgeois in an interview Friday. “We're one of the largest online retail hospitality businesses in North America. The reason why we embarked on this visual rebranding was to really resonate with our target consumers, who are mainly affluent Millennials.”
“The Dreams Belong Everywhere” campaign blends quality sleep products with the sense of belonging that guests feel at their hotel destinations. The strategy is to differentiate their business with an emotional connection as well as elevate the products, said Bourgeois.
She said the core products, which make up 97 percent of the Four Seasons' retail business, include mattresses, bedding, pillows, linens, bathrobes, towels and bath essentials. “What has been really truly exciting is to see a very strong demand among new products,” said Bourgeois. For example, the business recently launched resort towels and saw a 93 percent sell-through in 14 days, of which 78 percent of purchasers were new customers, with both metrics far exceeding expectations. The resort towel set, which includes two grand-size towels, retails for $299.
According to Liam McKessar, senior director of marketing — retail, the campaign breaks Monday and will run on the U.S. website, digital media and social media. The campaign is for the U.S. and Canada only, in line with the company's retail distribution.
The retail division, which is described as “Four Seasons at Home,” is currently in discussions with a designer for a collaboration.
The products are currently selling on fourseasons.com, but the brand is looking at expanding its distribution channels. Products range from $99 for a scented candle to a $4,999 California king mattress. Linens start at $299 for a twin sheet set and $349 for a twin duvet set, going up to $599 for king size.
Overall the goal is to elevate the Four Seasons' brand engagement, extend the guest lifetime value, and to bring the World of Four Seasons home, said Bourgeois.