Mr & Mrs Smith extends the family

With the help of brand consultancy Goosebumps, boutique hotel booking agent Mr & Mrs Smith has created a new parent brand and introduced three new sub-brands targeted at different audiences. Co-founder of Mr & Mrs Smith James Lohan explained: “We’d always planned to extend our service beyond romantic breaks to include offerings for families, groups and business travellers but we’d struggled to find a way of adding these new types of property without damaging what the Mr & Mrs Smith brand stands for – it’s a sexy, flirtatious brand aimed at couples. “We’ve had a lot of fun building a cheeky tone of voice with a hint of innuendo, which feels very wrong when selling holidays to families or accommodation to business travellers.” Rather than adding new offerings under the Mr & Mrs Smith brand, the whole architecture of the brand was redeveloped to create a new parent brand, Smith Collections, to sit atop four offspring brands, namely Mr & Mrs Smith for couples; Smith & Family for family; Smith & Friends for friends; and Smith & Co for business accommodation. Founder of Goosebumps Simon Cotterrell said: “The Smith brand is based on a very simple principle, it’s all about leaving nothing to chance for people who don’t have the time or the patience to get it wrong. When James started the company, it was the result of his difficulty finding the perfect hotel to help him woo his co-founder (now wife) Tamara. That desire for perfection is a value that can go way beyond couples. “As any parent will tell you, finding hotels that cater for children, while allowing parents to have some well-earned pampering time, is no easy task. So, although the motivations are different, the desire to find the perfect hotel experience is exactly the same. The extension of the brand makes total sense, but it had to be done in a way that allowed each element to have its own distinct character.” Smith & Family will be the first of the three new sub-brands to be rolled out over the coming months. James Lohan concluded: “Moving into different categories is not something that can be done overnight. We have to recruit and review new hotels, negotiate different revenue models and develop very different styles of communication through new channels”. “When Goosebumps came up with the idea, it made total sense. Here was not only a way of expanding the business without damaging our prized asset, but also the possibility of creating four new products, with the potential to add to our company’s commercial value dramatically.”