CASE STUDY: ALMA ITALIA
Travel With Soul.
Service with integrity to honour a homeland, curated experiences to enrich lives; this travel company is fighting for the restoration of people and place.
The Mission
Position Alma Italia as the curator of deeper, more authentic Italian experiences for discerning families and groups; and increase inquiries on the website through clearer navigation, information design and stronger calls to action.
The Outcome
Ne Plus Ultra took Alma Italia through brand strategy to focus their brand positioning and messaging. A new brand identity and website was created to engage their ideal customer as part of a wider online marketing strategy.
Services
• Brand strategy
• Brand story and high level messaging
• Brand idenity and toolkit
• Responsive website
THE CHALLENGE
In a place like Italy there are hundreds, if not thousands of tour operators from all over the world. As a customer, how do you pick one — and when you get into a foreign land, are you getting what you paid for? Confusion and skepticism run high. And as a brand, how do you cut through and stand out in this crowded market; in a time like COVID it’s a launch not for the faint hearted.
Rather than refreshing their website, we began with the brand strategy process to see what was truly unique and engaging. We surfaced that Alma Italia was founded with a passion to create a better way to travel Italy — not just for the tourist, but for locals as well.
Alma Italia’s founder is an ardent defender of his birthplace, and saw the way tourism was being done in Italy was denigrating its reputation. A new partner had joined the business, passionate about holidays as the ultimate way to rejuvenate in a busy world. The two combined create a philosophy of travel as social good, an alignment of people, place and spirit.
THE STRATEGY
Alma Italia wanted to offer an experience at the heart of Italian life—full of beauty, style, and authentic charm. To inspire creativity through fresh experiences that honoured local communities and producers, in the safety of a local guide.
Rather than go mass, they needed to go niche, to connect with their kind of customer. Someone who was searching for their ‘soul’ travel guide. A traveller who desired to reconnect with themselves, their relationships, and gain a new perspective. One who appreciated the good things in life, and was happy to pay for them.
We developed a backstory for the Alma Persona, a successful businessman who had devoted his life to climbing the corporate ladder. It was time to reconnect with family and create new memories.
Their secondary persona became a style conscious corporate planner, seeking a cultural fit for their prestigious brand, something unexpected to ignite energy, creativity and loyalty into their team.
The competition in the space was good but mostly utilitarian. The Alma Italia brand is about breathing life back into the soul of a nation and its visitors, it needed emotional resonance, and that ideal would stand it apart.
Proposals (above)
BUILDING THE BRAND
Messaging was developed under the new guiding philosophy: The Art of Rest. The Spirit of Adventure. Travel Deeply.
The brand identity phase developed the logo as a symbol of the spiritual Italian nurturing mother contemporized from William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s, ‘Alma Parens’, conveying nourishment, family and the soul at rest. A seal of quality and integrity fit for a luxury brand.
The strategy surfaced that everything negative about travel to Italy, could be redeemed in Alma Italia.
Videos were few in the travel space, and we developed a short film like a memory of the holiday they were about to experience. Short clips for each location enhanced the immersive and emotional experience.
The site tells the story of the brand, beyond a list of sites and hotels, it’s the story for an appreciation of a way of life, Italian style, rest and adventure, not just a tour company.
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