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A yellow poster with bold black typography reads “SAME HOTEL LOTS OF NEW COMPLAINTS”. Below this, the text reads “HANS BRINKER HOSTEL LISBON” and includes a website address.
A yellow poster with bold black typography reads “SAME HOTEL LOTS OF NEW COMPLAINTS”. Below this, the text reads “HANS BRINKER HOSTEL LISBON” and includes a website address.

KesselsKramer’s hilarious new “corporate” Hans Brinker Budget Hotel identity

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Date
22 September 2015

The upfront, tongue-in-cheek attitude to KesselsKramer’s new corporate identity for the Hans Brinker Budget Hotel that reminds us of its disappointing amenities, is a welcome relief from the companies who constantly claim to enhance our wellbeing if we buy into their services.

For 45 years the Hans Brinker Budget Hotel Amsterdam has offered the same, below par service to its customers and the company has just become an empire of two with the newly opened Hans Brinker Hostel in Lisbon. To celebrate, communications agency KesselsKramer has championed the accommodation’s no frills, incompetent approach to hotel-running since 1996 and has created a new corporate identify to show off its continental range. The agency has highlighted Hans Brinker’s inadequacies several times before in its marketing campaigns and this brightly coloured identity, with type designed by Anthony Burrill, follows suit.

For the Lisbon branch, visitors can expect the “same irony, same indifferent housekeeping, same bullying staff”, but slightly better weather when staying there. The new corporate identity includes variations of the Hans Brinker logo in gloriously contrasting type to give the false impression of multiple hotels across the world. Other touches include business cards that have an employee of the Amsterdam hotel on one side and another from the Lisbon branch on the other to save paper and a scarf that doubles up as a beach towel depending on which branch you’re staying in.

A bold typographic poster in orange and green reads “SAME LACK OF SOCIAL SKILLS DIFFERENT ACCENT”. Below, a logo for “Hans Brinker Hostel Lisbon” is accompanied by a small “NEW!” burst.
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KesselKramer: Hans Brinker Budget Hostel, Lisbon

A purple poster with a yellow border features bold black text that reads “SAME BUNK BEDS LESS CHANCE OF PNEUMONIA”. At the bottom, the text “HANS BRINKER HOSTEL LISBON” appears next to a small “NEW!” badge.
Two long pieces of fabric with white fringed ends are laid horizontally against a white background. The top purple scarf reads “HANS BRINKER BUDGET HOTEL AMSTERDAM”, and the bottom yellow towel reads “HANS BRINKER HOSTEL LISBON”.
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KesselKramer: Hans Brinker Budget Hostel, Lisbon

A yellow poster with bold black text reads “SAME UNUSUAL BEER” and “LESS CHANCE OF FALLING IN A CANAL”. Below this, a logo for “Hans Brinker Hostel Lisbon” is accompanied by a small “NEW!” burst.
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Left

KesselKramer: Hans Brinker Budget Hostel, Lisbon

A brown poster with a yellow border features bold black typography that reads “SAME SUSPECT SMELLS NOW DIFFERENT SOURCES”. At the bottom, a logo reads “HANS BRINKER HOSTEL LISBON” next to a jagged “NEW!” badge.
A collection of white paper cups and cardboard packaging for the Hans Brinker Budget Hotel. The cups feature images of mugs and the text “Hans Brinker”. One box reads “Budget Office Mug” and another states the contents are an “exclusive design mug created from unique material”.
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KesselKramer: Hans Brinker Budget Hostel, Lisbon

A large coil of silver wire is wrapped in a yellow band that reads “Hansbrinker Budget Hotel Amsterdam” and “10,000 Paper Clips”. Three individual paper clips are laid out in a row in front of the coil.
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KesselKramer: Hans Brinker Budget Hostel, Lisbon

A collection of colourful, mismatched hotel signs in various shapes and sizes. The signs include bold text such as “Staff Only”, “Internet Area”, “Break Fast” and “Check out before 11am”.
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KesselKramer: Hans Brinker Budget Hostel, Lisbon

Two promotional kits for Hans Brinker, each containing a triangular bunting flag in a plastic sleeve. The purple and green headers read “NOW OPEN IN LISBON”, while the blue and orange flags feature the “HANS BRINKER” logo.
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KesselKramer: Hans Brinker Budget Hostel, Lisbon

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About the Author

Rebecca Fulleylove

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Rebecca Fulleylove is a freelance writer and editor specialising in art, design and culture. She is also senior writer at Creative Review, having previously worked at Elephant, Google Arts & Culture, and It’s Nice That.

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