CLUB REBRAND STRATEGY TICKS ALL THE BOXES
Yesterday, 99 on York unveiled their new name and logo, Club York.
Located in the heart of the Sydney CBD, 99 on York faced a lot of challenges that suburban or regional clubs don’t encounter. The club also recognised it had a lot of underutilised opportunities, and after nearly two years of research, development and strategic planning the new identity has been unveiled – Club York.
The rebrand was designed to better align the club name with the business and the services they supply to their members and guests.
Retaining, much less growing membership is also a challenge due to their location. While the club has been trading better than ever, converting those visitors who work in the city but live outside of the CBD into becoming members, has not always been easy.
The street frontage is dominated by an open balcony that flows on from a sports lounge and is heavily male dominated. They recognised they were missing out on engaging with at least half of their potential market by not appealing to females.
There were a number of crucial things the club considered when they looked at a rebrand including:
Why rebrand in the first place?
The club felt they weren’t connecting with their audience and/or the potential audience. Research showed that people outside of regular members did not recognise the venue as a club. Most regarded it as an address of an adjoining office building and many other York Street locations were also using their street number in their branding, so it became confusing.
What is the story you are telling with the new brand?
The rebrand is more than just a name change. The club spent the past 12 months developing and refining their food and beverage offerings which they knew was a major traffic driver. Part of the rebrand is the new look Zabou Bar and Grill where patrons can grab a taste of New York in Sydney’s CBD. Research showed that current patrons liked the name, but not the food, so the brand was completely revitalised and aligned with a quirky but relevant and cost-effective menu that suits the target market perfectly.
The club will unveil more food offerings later in the year as it continues to develop this side of the business.
They also wanted the look and feel of the brand to reflect their city location and business. It needed to be modern, stylish and sophisticated and it needed to have an aspirational feel.
Streamline the identity
A major consideration with the rebrand was the club wanted patrons to immediately know who they are and what they do. They wanted to be easy to relate to and not to confuse their audience.
The club also boasts a very successful functions centre, however, there was a disconnect in the old branding, with many patrons from the function centre not recognising it was part of the club, which resulted in the club not maximising the flow on from this resource.
Along with technology upgrades to bring the venue up the best of city standards, the rebrand has been extended to incorporate the York Events space as well.
Broaden the appeal.
The club knew they needed to revitalise its image and broaden its appeal. The club’s city location is also one that is highly evolved and innovative. It needed to keep pace and be noticed in a very congested and competitive market. The new identity needed to become more relevant to it city audience.
The club has engaged and worked with its members and staff along each step of the rebrand process. They may have a new name, a new look and new food and beverage offering – but they have retained their friendly staff and high standards of customer service which research showed were one of their major assets.
For a preview of the new look and feel, check out the Club York website here >>
