Classic Travel Connection
Putting clients first in a travel company’s brand (and helping them target luxury adventure clients)
Brand Strategy / Visual Identity / Squarespace Web Design & Development — Birmingham, Alabama
Brand Evolution
Where Classic Travel Connection Began…
Christen, the founder of CTC, came to us after 15 years in business. She absolutely loved what she did for people, but was having a hard time solidifying her process and the way she communicated what she could do. She wanted both better messaging and better visuals to give people a super clear idea of what they could get for hiring Classic Travel Connection. She was willing to trust us to come up with visuals that suited the direction she wanted to grow into.
Where Classic Travel Connection Is Headed…
The thing that Christen has always been clear about: connection. She started this business to connect her clients to the world. To give them opportunity to see and experience new places that they couldn’t have gotten to on their own. She also loves to connect with the clients herself: getting to know them so well that she can add special elements to each trip, customized to that client. We wanted her brand and site to communicate the bridges she builds, to both places and people.
Brand Keywords
Trustworthy — Thorough — Understanding — Whimsical
Brand Values
Consistency — Service — Expertise
Target Audience
Erin, 36, is a part-time dental hygienist. She is married with two kids, and is adamant about taking a good vacation at least once a year. She plans one with the whole family, and one for just her and her husband. She prioritizes quality time above all else and so these trips are at the top of the priority list. She can get caught up in the busyness of their life at home with the kids in school and sports and both of their jobs, but these trips remind her to zoom out and see how romantic the world can be. She wants someone she can trust to bring the details of every trip together and make it special along the way.
Visual Rationale
A big part of Classic Travel Connection’s brand is relaxation and rest. They work hard to understand what that means for each individual client and tailor the whole trip to their preferred experience. We used a combination of relaxing tones (deep blues and greens) alongside warmer tones (like rusty red and mustard yellow) to marry the idea of rest and uplifting energy. The font in the logo feels timeless and sophisticated, whereas the body font reminds their clients that vacation is about play.
The rebrand: 2.0
We first worked the Classic Travel team in 2019, and had an absolute blast. At the time, their focus was mainly family travel, and we sought to create a playful and modern visual identity. Fast forward to 2022 and like all good brands, CTC has continued to evolve as a company— now, they’re working with clients that have a minimum $10K travel budget, and creating highly unique and personalized adventures for their clients. So much of our strategy remained true to the brand, but we knew it was time for a shift. We worked together again (my favorite!) with Christen and her teammates to help mature the brand, implementing new sophisticated fonts and colors while leaning into the strength of the existing logos and icons, just utilizing them differently. We also recruited the help of strategist + messaging queen, Andrea Littell to write beautiful copy that targeted their growing audience in this new season of business and we’re so thrilled with the final product!
If you’ve made it this deep into our site, you probably already know that collaboration is our favorite. This project was a team effort with the help of Andrea Littell on copywriting.