The Island Gold Coast: A Brand Built for Both Sides of the Stay.
Creating a more cohesive brand experience for a multi-venue hotel precinct.
The Island Gold Coast is a boutique hotel and lifestyle precinct in the heart of Surfers Paradise, spanning accommodation, rooftop bars, dining, nightlife and poolside experiences.
When I began working on the brand, the visual identity and customer experience across the precinct lacked cohesion. Rather than simply refreshing the look and feel, I started by exploring who the venue attracted and how different audiences wanted to experience the Gold Coast.
Services
Brand strategy, positioning, audience insight, tone of voice, content strategy, creative direction, campaign development, design and copywriting.
Research into interstate, local and drive-market visitors revealed two distinct behavioural mindsets. Some guests were drawn to relaxation, escape and ease, while others were motivated by spontaneity, discovery, nightlife and play.
The interesting part was that both audiences still wanted permission to relax.
This insight became the foundation for the wider positioning strategy: balancing “relax” and “play” across the precinct experience.
From this came a simple guiding purpose: To make relaxation more fun.
The strategy was intentionally designed not to alienate corporate travellers or guests seeking a quieter escape. Instead, the brand positioned The Island as a place where guests could fully relax — while being surrounded by tempting ways to play if and when they chose to engage.
This thinking shaped the wider tone of voice, visual direction, venue positioning and customer experience across the hotel, Goldie’s, the Rooftop and Pool Deck.
Rather than relying on generic resort language or purely aesthetic hospitality branding, the repositioning focused on creating a destination that felt socially vibrant, emotionally relevant and grounded in how people actually want to experience time away.