APES HILL BARBADOS

A DESTINATION FOR DOWN-TO-EARTH LUXURY

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Defining and growing the Apes Hill Barbados brand, from seed to strength

Live Site
Engagement

2020-Present

The Challenge

Apes Hill Barbados isn’t your average golf resort. Set 1000ft above sea level at one of the most remarkable high points in the Caribbean, Apes Hill is all about unmatched golf and laidback living. 

With a course designed by the late Ron Kirby – an international legend in golf course architecture – and beautiful properties, Apes Hill Barbados is a truly unique place to call home. To spread the word, the young brand needed presence. Especially in digital spaces. More than that, they needed a refinement that puts Apes Hill Barbados front of mind for the exact people that make the community what is it: genuine, inclusive and down-to-earth.

Throughout Matter Of Form’s long-standing partnership with the Apes Hill Barbados team, our work has ranged from crafting the brand positioning, narrative and direction to transforming the Barbadian resort’s visual identity and digital experience, elevating content and everything in between. All driven by extensive market and audience research to help put Apes Hill Barbados on the map – as one of the best golf resorts and communities in the Caribbean. 

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Elevated – and Down-To-Earth

As a community found just above the Barbadian buzz – an escape from the chaos to focus on connection – Apes Hill Barbados has a ‘come as you are’ mentality; it’s a place of prestige without pretension where being playful is encouraged. Golf is a game after all. 

Much of our strategy and brand development work focused on capturing that thinking and translating it into a lifestyle that would attract the right audience and a narrative that could grow, extend and flex with the business over time. 

Our crafted value proposition centres on Apes Hill’s unique point of difference whilst playing with the juxtaposition between high and low – delivered alongside a brand narrative, tone of voice and messaging guide before we moved into translating the spirit of Apes Hill Barbados into a visual identity. 

The only elevated golf resort & community in Barbados – Where the golf is on a higher level but life’s always down-to-earth.
Iterating The Experience

Proposed visual identity routes ranged from fresh and contemporary to refined and elegant before settling on a typographic logo that really paid homage to the brand’s USP. Our collaborative team were keen to design with warmth in mind, to create a crest members were proud to wear that captured the undulations and rolling hills that make Apes Hill Barbados what it is. 

From there we rounded out the core brand identity and visual assets before designing and developing the initial website at speed to get to market quickly. Since then, we’ve been on a two-year journey to reiterate the structure, look and feel to match the destination’s on-site development. 

Simultaneously, we’ve kept up an ongoing brand retainer, consulting on design and approach to new collateral as well as crafting the name and visual identity of the Apes Hill Barbados dining experience and supporting on strategy for the resort’s villa rental offering.

The Round of Your Life

In 2023, we produced and launched the Apes Hill Barbados brand film, titled ‘The Round of Your Life’, alongside a collection of supporting assets from stills to mood films and more. 

Before shooting, strategy workshops settled on central content goals including cementing the Apes Hill brand and identity, building anticipation, appealing to a diverse clientele and fostering community. 

To hit those, our narrative needed to focus on more than championship-level golf and performance facilities. It needed to capture the lifestyle and community Apes Hill Barbados fosters and pull on the heartstrings just enough to emphasise their enriched way of living. 

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We do not perceive MOF to be simply our digital and brand marketing communications agency, rather we consider them to be an essential creative partner and a source of critical support as we navigate our brand and international marketing journey. Though they are located relatively far from us geographically, our two companies could not be closer – we cannot thank them enough for their dedicated service.
Cheryl Franklin, Head of Brand Development & International Marketing, Apes Hill Barbados