Forest Holidays Case Study

In 2020, through research with current and prospective customers, Forest Holidays identified that their brand “lacked the required clear definition and cut through to position the brand competitively within the UK Domestic Holiday market”.

They appointed us to review and reposition the brand, with the aim of achieving “an unassailable position as the UK’s leading provider of forest based holiday experiences”.

To build a clear picture of the business, we undertook an exhaustive two-month national audit and research programme including full audience, competitor and identity audits; staff and stakeholder qualitative interviews and workshops; all-staff quantitative surveys and three stages of consumer research with key customer segments at one-to-one interviews and focus groups.

From this, we worked up and tested five working propositions, then down to three, before the core brand essence and proposition was identified – Forest Feeling.

Idea generation board of early forest holiday visuals and ideas

Forest Feeling captured the essence of everything that is special about a Forest Holiday. It’s ownable, distinct from competitors. It’s purpose-led, inspiring and shaping internal behaviours as much as external audience perceptions. And it’s flexible, giving Forest Holidays a strategic framework to build the brand over the years.

We built the new verbal and visual identity around this, focussing on clarity and simplicity to align with the contemporary travel sector (Tripadvisor, Airbnb) and to ensure the identity enhanced, not obscured, Forest Feeling.

Before

After

The brand and identity was encapsulated into a clear, concise brand toolkit.

The new brand launched with the new website in spring 2021. We planned and executed the internal and external 4-week launch campaign, with a launch film, digital ads, website takeovers, direct mail, organic and paid-for social, in-cabin media (TV), team presentations and brand books.

We worked closely with the in-house team to roll the new brand out at a new site across signage, the Forest Retreat, the in-house magazine, in-cabin material, posters, menus and POS.