The Queen Mary
While we worked for Evolution, the city of Long Beach asked us to re-brand the Queen, the challenge wasn’t to invent a brand. It was to unbury one.
The Queen Mary had all the markings of myth: an ocean liner turned hotel, an Art Deco masterpiece, a storied past of celebrity crossings and wartime duty. But over the years, that myth had faded—buried under operational inconsistency, fragmented marketing, and the creeping perception of a once-great attraction struggling to find relevance.
So we posed a question: What if The Queen Mary wasn’t a ship-turned-hotel, but a vessel of time itself?
That became the anchor.
Our role was to restore the Queen Mary’s sense of identity not through nostalgia, but through time as an immersive medium. We didn’t brand a relic. We reactivated a stage. What emerged was a narrative framework built around six brand pillars—from Spirit of Innovation to Melodic Passage—each designed to bridge past, present, and speculative future. Not a theme park. Not a heritage trap. But a vivid connection to a bygone era—anchored in now.
What we did
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We developed an end-to-end identity system that redefined The Queen Mary not as a relic, but as a living cultural landmark—spanning strategy, storytelling, activations, and staff training.
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We uncovered the ship’s most powerful contradiction—frozen in time, yet moving ahead—and built a brand framework that turned time itself into an immersive, narrative medium.
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We created a timeless visual language inspired by Streamline Moderne and transatlantic glamour, integrating historic cues with contemporary clarity across signage, collateral, and digital.
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We designed interactive NFC activations like Whispers of the Past and The Time Capsule Postbox—bridging eras through real-time guest interaction with the ship’s layered history.
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We worked across marketing and operational teams to ensure every touchpoint—visuals, tone, guest flow—honored the ship’s authentic aesthetic, steering away from pastiche and toward historically rooted coherence.
The Results
Revenue Repositioning
Room rates rose by up to 36% over pre-pandemic levels, with suites commanding over $600/night—proof that guests will pay a premium for emotionally resonant, experience-rich branding.
Expanded Tour and Experience Economy
Programming grew from just 3 tours at reopening to over 22 distinct experiences, proving that narrative design directly fueled engagement and diversified revenue streams.
First Profitable Year in Over a Decade
The Queen Mary achieved positive cash flow for the first time in years, reversing its legacy as a struggling municipal asset and repositioning it as a high-performing cultural destination.
Cultural Relevance Reclaimed
The Queen Mary is now cited by press and visitors not just as a hotel, but as one of Long Beach’s most dynamic cultural venues—hosting film screenings, immersive events, and historic programming.
Massive Uplift in Guest Sentiment
Booking.com guest ratings climbed to 8.2/10 (“Very Good”)—driven by restored trust, improved clarity of experience, and a revitalized sense of emotional and historical authenticity.
Cross-Functional Brand Execution
For the first time in decades, design, hospitality, and marketing teams worked from a shared brand framework—allowing the ship to present a unified, dignified identity across every guest and staff touchpoint.