Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas came to us embarking on an ambitious endeavor to revamp, reinvent, and reenergize its brand among the stylish set. 

To uncover their often subconscious needs, we created an innovative qualitative and quantitative research approach that connected with Vegas visitors “in the moment,” engaging them in quintessential Vegas experiences, including Cocktail Salons, Pimped-up Ultralounges, and Poolside Pickups. (Yes, this was also fun for the research team!) 

Our findings informed a brand filter for Hard Rock to use as a lens for every decision, from hiring staff to choosing what’s in the mini bar.

Lonely Planet

A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket, and a sense of adventure.

While this may have been the mantra of Lonely Planet thirty years ago, the brand has evolved a great deal since then. Although it maintains its independent spirit, the brand now covers much more than travel on the cheap, and extends its reach beyond books to TV, mobile, and the Web.

With the goal of pleasing global loyalists as well as winning share among US travelers, our ongoing research for Lonely Planet has delved into travelers’ perceptions of the brand and their travel information needs. Varied methods included focus groups, map-a-longs, mid-trip interviews, and international tourist tag-a-longs.

Our getting lost with travelers has really helped Lonely Planet find its way. The work has informed the brand portfolio across media platforms, including product lines, content development, marketing, and merchandising.

PF Chang’s

PF Chang’s, the wildly successful chain of upscale casual restaurants, came to Insight to help strategize its next phase of growth.

We created  a series of innovative foodie roundtables to define diners’ relationships to dining. Once we’d digested that learning, our next course of action was a series of eat-along ethnographies where we shared a lettuce wrap and a chat with their suburban sophisticate consumers who revealed just what they crave for a night on the town. 

By understanding their practical, social, and experiential needs, we were able to evaluate current perceptions of PF Chang’s and  create a no-miss recipe for success to guide its brand positioning evolution. 

Zagat

For years, city dwellers around the world have relied on Zagat guides to point them in the direction of terrific eateries. At a time when info seeking was becoming more and more digital, Zagat came to us to help translate their print success to the online arena.

Through Focus Groups and Usability Labs, we not only delved into consumer behavior, perceptions, and the competitive set, but also consumers’ decision processes for where to eat. As such, were able to not only help Zagat create a usable and appealing website, but also make it a uniquely valuable go-to resource.

Implications provided key dos and don’ts for Zagat.com, with broad and specific recommendations for future development, including guidelines for content, features, functions, and layouts that would make Zagat.com a site to salivate over.