Objective: To redefine and strengthen the city of Bath’s competitive identity and ensure that Visit Bath is the ‘go-to’ organisation representing their members, partners, visitors and the local community. Branding both the destination marketing activity and the organisation itself.
To capture the essence of what the UNESCO World Heritage City of Bath is about: iconic historic architecture, a distinctive, independent-minded place and a charming, unique and glamorous destination; classical but with a contemporary twist.
Visit Bath’s brand identity was inconsistently used and often confused with other organisations. They received little credit for the major events and activities they organised, such as the Christmas Market or the ‘Great Bath Feast’ food festival. We needed to give them a clear identity to establish them as the face of Bath’s tourism.
We started by running a brand audit workshop, followed by an in depth research phase before producing visual concepts. We designed a logo that can be read in multiple ways. The circles represent the city’s thermal waters bubbling up in ever-decreasing circles and also its iconic crescents and distinctive Circus. The colour references the lush rolling hills surrounding the city.
The main typeface ‘Trajan Pro’ is based on the letterforms of the Roman square capitals at the base of Trajan’s Column in Rome. While the supporting typeface balances this with a clean contemporary feel.
The strapline ‘A World Heritage Spa City’ further emphasises the city’s unique selling points – its UNESCO status and its thermal spa offering.
We need to lead by example and this kind of branding work is critical to the way people not only perceive the organisation but also the city itself – our primary aim is to be front of mind and the first port of call when visitors are researching and booking their trip to Bath.
—David James, CEO, Visit Bath
