The Modern Hotelier #43: How Hotels Can Harness the Power of Branding | with Melinda Welch === Melinda Welch: Everyone has an opinion, and that's okay. That's great. But branding has an objective, right? Ultimately it is to sell. So every decision we make is not rooted in what we want, or what we like, what we think is pretty, it's about communicating a certain message to your consumer, and making sure that that message is a relevant one to them, so that they choose your hotel, your product, your service. David Millili: Welcome to the Modern Hotelier. I'm your host, David Mully. Steve Carran: I'm your co-host, Steve Karen. Jon Bumhoffer: And I'm the producer, John Boomer. David Millili: Steve, who do we have on the program today? Steve Carran: Yeah, David. Today we have on Melinda Welsh. Melinda is the head of strategy at Brand Bureau. Melinda helps brands craft distinct perspectives and express themselves through design to foster deep connection with their audience. She's also a co-host of Brand Box Podcast and does some teaching as well. Welcome to the show, Melinda. Melinda Welch: Thank you so much for having me. David Millili: Welcome. So we're gonna go through really three sections. Is we're gonna do a lightning round and then get into kind of where you grew up, talk about your career, and then go into industry topics. Sound good? Melinda Welch: Amazing. David Millili: Okay, here we go. What was the worst job you ever had? Melinda Welch: Worst job was. Maybe the worst moment in a great job. I was working at a stained glass studio and I really screwed up a window and had to take it apart and start over again. But otherwise, phenomenal job David Millili: Are you a morning or a night person? Melinda Welch: morning for sure. David Millili: So if you had to delete all the apps off your phone, except for three, what three apps are you keeping? Melinda Welch: Gotta keep Spotify. probably Gmail. I'm a bit addicted, but even more addicted to TikTok. Not a poster, but you know, that's replace TV for me. David Millili: What emoji do you use the most on your phone? Melinda Welch: the like screamy face just to, you know, punctuate some drama. David Millili: That's good. So do you have a favorite song? Melinda Welch: I'm sure I do. David Millili: An artist maybe. Melinda Welch: Steely Dan all the way. David Millili: Favorite restaurant. Melinda Welch: Oh, that one is so hard. David Millili: How about in Williamsburg, your favorite restaurant? Melinda Welch: maybe just, um, it's called Okin. It's this beautiful little oma spot. Yeah. David Millili: Okay, cool. It is, it is a tough question. Maybe I'm gonna get rid of that one. I dunno. If you had your own talk show, who would your first guest be on that talk show? Melinda Welch: Oh, I'm such a big fan of Bo Burnham. He does just the most insightful cultural commentary, and the songs are so good too. Yeah, that would be David Millili: Okay. So now you've got a time machine. You can go into the future or back into the past. Which way are you going and what year are you going to. Melinda Welch: Oh, Uh, I would go to, probably, 1910s Bauhaus era of design. Like just to be there to see all those different incredible designers coming together to start a new approach to design. That would be amazing. Steve Carran: Those were really good. Well done. Now we'll get to know you a little bit more, kind of what makes you tick. So you live in, uh, south Jersey now, but where did you grow up? Melinda Welch: I grew up in South Jersey. Steve Carran: did. Okay, so, so how did that shape you into who you are today? I. Melinda Welch: Oh. I'm sure in all the ways, the number one way that's coming to mind for me was the school I went to. I went to the same school from kindergarten through 12th grade, and, uh, it was a Quaker school. And so, you know, I. It's just amazing education, but also the Quaker ideology and you know, just learning to appreciate silence and, seeing, you know, everyone as equal and important. Those were critical lessons for me. I. Steve Carran: are you still friends with that same group that you went through all, all, all till graduation with? Melinda Welch: We definitely had some fun, uh, zoom reunions over the pandemic, but usually I, I see them individually one once a year when, whenever we can get together. Yeah. Steve Carran: Very cool. David Millili: So you got your undergrad in psychology, then you graduated from the School of Visual Arts with a master's and degree in branding. How did those two things wind up together? Melinda Welch: great question and was definitely something I had to find my way towards. So my undergrad was actually a, a five-year program, so I got a B f A from Parson School Design and I got a BA in psychology from the liberal arts school under New School University. And so I'd be taking six hour studio classes during the day and psychology classes at night, and. It was really just what was fascinating to me. and it was honestly a little bit of a hedge too. You know, my, my family wasn't super keen on. You know, go in the art school route exclusively. So got to appease the parents. Um, and I'm so glad it worked out that way Anyway. but yeah, it was really just what, I was interested in. And for a time I thought that might lead me to art therapy as the combination of those two things. a very direct combination. but then, then I discovered branding as really the, the intersection of. Understanding human behavior, understanding what people want and need, and, you know, answering that with branding, which is essentially storytelling. so I, I had to go out in the workforce for a few years and put those, you know, elements together. But once I was exposed to that, it was very clear that that was what I wanted to be doing. Steve Carran: Was there an. Aha moment when that hit, when you finally realized like, oh, branding is a perfect, perfect intersection between those two. Melinda Welch: Yeah, it was, at my second job, out of undergrad, and it was a startup. Over the counter pharmaceutical company, which sounds bizarre and probably boring, but it was super brand driven. It was all about, really cool packaging, amazing design forward sensibility. really hilarious. Marketing and tone of voice, and I think I realized a, it was just a blast at that job, and my colleagues were, just so smart and so fun. But I realized, you know, you're imbuing all of this, meaning, all of this relevance to, a pill that I would otherwise have no relationship to, no interest in. And that is when I, I think I first understood the power of branding. Steve Carran: so now we'll dive into your career a little bit. Kind of how you got to where you are today. you were a project manager, then a creative director at, uh, the Door before coming to Brand Bureau. How did those previous roles help you in your growth at Brand Bureau and how has a, how have those helped you in your current role? Melinda Welch: Oh yeah, absolutely. what's so interesting about project management is it means something different, not only in every industry, but pretty much every company. And, for me, I came into that because I was just an organized person. I, I was. Good enough at communicating, and I knew the creative process and so that. Kind of just made me somehow a whiz. Whereas, you know, they were, they were doing things that were very natural to me. Right. But they were really appreciated in the environments that I was doing that in because it allowed the creatives to be super creative and the account team to, you know, do what, they were best at, As sort of that function. And, you know, I've come to understand that all of those are, are skills that I use every day in, you know, leading the studio that I lead, managing, the team, figuring out the best workflow that's gonna get the, the right result and the, and the best products. So, you know, those were foundational, skills and experiences that, that I think I draw on every single day. Steve Carran: Sure, And now you're head of strategy, so what are your main responsibilities there? Melinda Welch: Sure. So, really it, it's oversight of all of the work that comes outta the strategy team. And our focus is primarily in, it's really the upfront work before design starts. So, you know, you wouldn't just jump right into, you know, making a logo or a visual identity. You'd wanna understand who is the audience that. This is for, what are they looking for? What's important to them? and, you know, what's the business opportunity? What is the competitive set, you know, hanging their hat on, so that if they're zigging, we know to zag over here so we can be different and stand out. So it's triangulating those inputs to arrive at an opportunity. and that's really the heart of the brand that then our designer colleagues. Visualize and, and bring to life, either through graphic design or you know, interior design. You know, bringing that brand through to the space. David Millili: That's great. So you currently teach at the Pratt Institute and the School of Visual Arts in branding. How did you get involved in teaching and why is it important to you? Melinda Welch: I love that. Um, so I, I'm currently teaching at the School of Visual Arts. I have taught at Pratt in the past, but right now I'm, and it's, uh, it's an 11 month program, so I teach practically year round. and that came about because, uh, I was, I'm an alumni of that program. so I took the program, was, so inspired by the curriculum and the faculty and, you know, built, Relationships that I am just so grateful for in my life. And, when the opportunity arose to, support those, those faculty, as a ta, I took that up and that just grew into more and more work and, and a faculty role there. and I, I. Love the opportunity to help kind of the practitioners of tomorrow think about our field because it's changing all the time and it's only gonna continue to change. And so arming them with the critical thinking skills to adapt and respond. Versus, you know, the, the technique. that's what's super rewarding. And I love, you know, the relationships. I've hired several, of my former students and, and, you know, continue to work with them and, and see them grow. And, and that's incredible too. David Millili: Yeah, I taught at N Y U and it was amazing. 'cause you, I think when you teach you, you end up discovering the things that you know, that you forget that you know, 'cause you know all these things and you're like, oh, okay, wait. And then you, when you're looking at the faces of someone who has no idea the history of whether it be an industry or something, it's, it's pretty cool. Melinda Welch: Oh, so well said. And, and also learning from, you know, my fellow faculty members. You know, I've, been, assistant faculty in this one course eight or nine times. I learn something new. Every single class I. David Millili: So you have your own podcast, the Brand Box. you talk about strategies and the effects of brands. Tell us more about the podcast and why you started it. Melinda Welch: Oh, sure. Yeah, that's with my colleagues, uh, Dr. Tom Ello and, and Mark Kingsley, their faculty at the S v A Masters in Branding Program. And, we. Just always clicked. and, part of the, the process that, that we engage together is, is kind of like the Socratic method. We just riff until, you know, we'll just poke at a cultural phenomenon until we collectively understand it. So Tom comes from, a clinical psychology background. Mark's a designer and he's really interested in semiotics and, I'm sort of in the, the weeds of the industry, so I'll often bring kind of a client perspective or a cultural perspective thanks to my TikTok safaris. and we just love, you know, for example, you know, the latest, phenomenon with Bud Light, really getting caught in kind of the cultural cross hairs there. Just, you know, a fascinating phenomenon, wanting to understand it, you know, how did we get to this place, not just. How did Anheuser-Busch, a b i, InBev get to that place? But how did we as a culture get to the place that this is how we respond to brand behaviors? Like that's huge. That's, that's new and that's a shift and we wanna understand it. Steve Carran: Very smart. Do you have a favorite brand that just does things really well you think? Melinda Welch: know, it changes all the time. What's hard is when you work, I, I don't know if, if you both feel this way, but I find that when you're in an industry, it's so easy to become cynical and to really pay attention to the misses rather than, sort of what's, going so well. so gimme a couple minutes. I might come Steve Carran: Sounds good. We'll come back at the end of the episode. We'll come back. David Millili: Yeah, I can be very cynical when it comes to hospitality, but anyway, that's what the old guys do, so Melinda Welch: Well count me at all guy Then. David Millili: yeah. Steve Carran: Awesome. Well that sounds good. We're gonna move to the industry thoughts now and then we'll come back to that, so you're obviously on the branding side. What's important for hotels to consider as they approach their branding or, or think about their branding? Melinda Welch: Yeah, a couple things come to mind. I think first and foremost, the brand is. So dynamic and the heart of it lives on property. And I think there's a, a, maybe an older way of thinking about it where a brand is just marketing. The brand is just what happens to, get guests on site and that's the end of the story. But actually brands. Now our, our especially, you know, hospitality brands are not only expected to, but they have a huge opportunity if they can extend that brand to be a tangible moment in the guests, stay on site. And if they can peak an emotional connection, if they can create a, an incredibly memorable moment that is so valuable that kind of loyalty just can't be bought. And so, So many other brands in the world would kill for that opportunity, right? To have a guest in an environment that you've completely created with staff members that you've, trained on, how to engage with you, with all these sensory elements, scent and, food and beverage and, maybe even entertainment, right? so completely craft that world. it's an incredible opportunity. And hotels, have so much at stake if they can, really reinforce the brand story in those tangible moments. Steve Carran: what advice would you give for a hotel that kind of has that strategy in place, but just needs to put it into action? Melinda Welch: You know, I think what we see as the biggest challenge is, honestly the, dynamics and, structure we've seen, Brands come at the problem from an innovation perspective, but the operations team isn't necessarily bought into that, or the marketing team isn't aligned. And so without that internal alignment that all of these cylinders need to be firing and need to be engaged and need to be working. In unison, cooperatively to affect change. the thinking is the easy part. it's really the, cooperation and the implementation where, things get tricky. David Millili: Besides that, what mistake. Or hotels and brands making when it comes to really more on the guest experience side and, and what, what are they doing wrong? Melinda Welch: You know, one thing that we've seen is, um, Kind of knee jerk reactions. let's say you have a signature amenity and it's probably a high overhead item, and so if demand softens or, or, economic conditions change, they might, you know, discontinue that, pull it immediately, and we see that. Having a huge impact on guest satisfaction. You know, guest book months in advance, they come on site, expecting this thing that might have been a really critical, you know, consideration factor in, in why they chose your hotel and when it's not there, that, is a huge pitfall and it's very hard to overcome. It's so hard to overcome when you've disappointed someone. Steve Carran: Especially during the check-in process. Melinda Welch: Oh my gosh, yes. Right away. Steve Carran: It's a tough, it's a tough way to start out. So, one thing I'm really curious to hear you talk more about is the. Hospitable thinking philosophy. can you tell us more about this and kind of explain what that is exactly. Melinda Welch: Absolutely. Yeah. So hospitable thinking is really a philosophy that the founders of, a rco and, and brand bureau, the, the companies I work for developed over their, you know, 20 plus years in this industry. And it comes from, a place of wanting to understand. You know, how people engage with one another, how people engage with space, and you know, what they saw from, synthesizing behavioral science research, you know, hospitality behavior research is that, you know, hospitality has this power to make people feel, not only, safe and significant. It has this power to surprise you and take you out of the every day. And so really every decision that we make throughout all of the aico world companies is filtered through this philosophy. So that could have, an impact in, how you lay out seating in a lobby to, how you, script a, welcome greeting to, how, the, bar menu. Is organized, right? All of those are, are tools in this toolbox. And so we, really just use that as this north star guiding philosophy, behind everything that we touch. David Millili: Yeah, so in in hotels there, especially on the independent side, there's a lot of. You know, wealthy independent owners and uh, I've had a history where I've heard stories about how their significant other gets involved in branding or design. Do you have any horror stories where you've basically had to like fire a client? 'cause you're just like, we can't work with these people because somebody, male, female, whoever, is just trying to destroy your philosophy and what you're trying to accomplish. Melinda Welch: Oh my gosh. I mean, It happens. It definitely happens, but honestly, I feel that that in those events, it's almost been a failing on our part because that means we didn't do a good job of explaining the decision we made and why we're recommending that color or that graphic treatment, or, you know, design is so subjective. Everyone has an opinion, and that's okay. That's great. But, branding has an objective, right? Ultimately it is to sell. So again, every decision we make is not rooted in what we want or what we like, what we think is pretty, it's about communicating a certain message to your consumer, and making sure that that message is a relevant one to them, so that they choose your hotel, your product, your service. David Millili: A quick funny story since we're talking about New Jersey. I looked years ago at a property in Egg Harbor, New Jersey, which is outside of Atlantic City, and it was a hotel, a winery, and a golf course, and it was for sale. and the owner's wife had decided it'd be much more interesting if every single room had different bedding. I. Furniture. So you can just imagine if you're housekeeping, you're cleaning up anyway. Alright, we'll, we'll we'll move on. So what advice would you give hotels to improve the guest experience? Melinda Welch: I think it really, starts with knowing your audience, there's a really important distinction between who you think your audience is. Who your audience actually is and who your audience could be. And so one thing we've seen is, and I think this might actually be a problem, that we have to blame branding on because I'm sure you know, you've ever worked at, a hotel brand, you've gotten a deck, that explains the, the brand philosophy. And in it you see an overview of the audiences. and you know, we've gotten smarter over the years where we know it's not just about your age and, and your household income, it's about your beliefs and, what drives you as a person. But I think sometimes hotels can, take that aspirational, you know, picture of, who your audience is and think, well, yeah, that's, who's coming, that's who's on site. And you always have to be checking. You always have to be really attuned to who's actually showing up because they might want. Completely different things than what, pre-launch you ever envisioned this, property, like who that person was, going to be. And if you don't know who your audience is, you'll never be able to, satisfy them. You'll never be able to have those moments of, connection because you're you're not really listening. Steve Carran: So smart, so great. So the big buzz, you know, not only in our industry but kind of out there right now is ai. How do you feel like AI is gonna in be incorporated into branding strategy, and, you know, how is it gonna affect it? Melinda Welch: Oh my gosh, I love that question. We're talking about this all the time. I have, uh, a workshop with my team next week on, on Mid Journey and, and chat G p T. It's gonna change it a lot. what I do believe though is that, there will be, I think quite some time before, The intelligence is really able to synthesize the work. What I think you'll be able to do is plug in and, you know, what is the competitive analysis of the, addition Miami. And I think they'll give you that information. I think they can give you, some stats about your audience, but putting it all together and what does that mean for the positioning of, of this brand? I think that's gonna take some time. And similarly, I think you'll be able to plug in, you know, give me an icon that represents, Sunkist, beach time, whatever it is. but it'll give you 600 options and you as the human are gonna have to decide, you know, what actually communicates that best. I don't think the machine is, is gonna know that. So I see it as, as deep collaboration between humans and and machines for the foreseeable future. Steve Carran: I agree. Slogans, logos, Melinda Welch: yeah. Well, we actually have a corner of, of our workspace where just the absolute most, like asinine phrases have come out of, of ChatGPT Steve Carran: You gotta give, us one. Melinda Welch: uh oh. Steve Carran: one. If you remember one. Melinda Welch: It was something about like, it was like a, a tea pun, and it was like absolute, like it, it made t e a Yeah, like it was oof. It was rough. David Millili: Yeah. Steve Carran: I would like that one personally, but Melinda Welch: Okay. Okay. Machines are taken Steve Carran: yeah. There you go. So have we thought of a brand that you really like or that is doing a phenomenal job in not only hospitality, but I guess any, any brand that you're really impressed with, Melinda Welch: God, Steve Carran: branding strategy you liked? Melinda Welch: I mean, my favorite brands are nostalgia plays. They're like, from my childhood, they can do no wrong. You know, like peeps. I love peeps. I think they're cute. I think they're kitschy. I can't get enough. Steve Carran: Hey, that's good. That's good. So we have had, uh, John listening, our producer the whole time, we're gonna kick it off to him for, for the one final question before we head out here. Jon Bumhoffer: All right, so you're, you're in marketing, um, and branding, but you're also kind of like an artist first. It kind of is what it sounds like to me, and I'm curious what is, what got you into that? What is your medium of choice? and if you still do that, I. Melinda Welch: Ah, that's, that's, uh, such a lovely perspective on it. I would, I can't say that I think of myself as an artist first, but I. Definitely aspire to be. I don't have one preferred medium. I just have projects that I love doing. I made a cross stitch for, my friend last week and I made a piece of furniture, you know, a couple weeks before that. And, you know, I'm just always tinkering with things and I don't, know if I can point to one. turning point in my life where that began. It was just something that, was always instilled in me. I'm an only child, so I had to entertain myself quite a lot. and my grandma, you know, would put a skiing of yarn in front of me and say, have at it. And that just grew and grew. And, I couldn't live without it at this point. Steve Carran: I feel like you would have a really cool Etsy store, judging by the chair that you're in and kind of all the side projects. Melinda Welch: I definitely did in college. I don't know how cool it was, but that was a time in the life shore. David Millili: So that does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier. This is where we allow you to plug away, let people know where they can get in touch with you, get in touch with your company. Melinda Welch: Oh, thank you so much. Yeah, I mean, I would love for, you know, anyone in the hotel industry to check out brand bureau.com. we are, I. So passionate about what we do. We just eat, sleep, and, and breathe hospitality and would love to hear if there's any way that, that we can be of, of value, you listeners, David Millili: Well, that does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier. Hope to see everyone soon. Thank you, Melinda. Appreciate it. Melinda Welch: thank you so much.