Little green book

Launching a luxury online directory

  • Brand strategy
  • Verbal identity
  • Visual identity
A man selecting wine from a shelf with the Cotswold Cloche logo overlaid - designed by Mighty, brand agency

Making our Cotswolds your Cotswolds

The client: Cotswold Cloche

On a hot summer’s day, we had a visit from hotelier extraordinaire Andrew Michelin, who owns several hotels in the Caribbean. He was in the Cotswolds for an extended stay and had a clever idea ­– what if there was a directory that could connect people like him to luxury services?

The Cotswold Cloche brand identity, designed by Mighty, brand agency
Brand advert concept for the Cotswold Cloche by Mighty, brand agency
Brand advert for the Cotswold Cloche lifestyle magazine by Mighty, brand agency

The Moment of Change: Changing the game

While staying in the Cotswolds with his family, Andrew was finding it difficult to access services like dry cleaners, private chefs and drivers. (Not everyone’s problem, we know!) On the other hand, he was building up a good knowledge of local attractions and eateries while he was visiting and wanted to share those with visitors to the region.
 
He tasked us with putting together an online directory that would showcase the crème de la crème of the Cotswolds – making it easy for anyone who was coming to stay, whether for a while or just for a weekend, to find what they needed and discover the area’s famous hospitality.

A stamp that says "Approved Partner" - designed as part of a brand project for the Cotswold Cloche by Mighty, brand agency

The plan we made

There are loads of directory sites out there to show what’s in the Cotswolds – some good, most pretty terrible – so Andrew’s idea would need a point of difference. For us, it was all about the personal touch. The insider knowledge. Having someone like a butler at your side to tell you what’s what. Each business on the directory site would need to be personally vetted by Andrew’s team to ensure it was fit for inclusion.
 
From there, our brand was born – the Cotswold Cloche. We developed a simple, elegant marque, based around the kind of cloche you’d see a butler bringing into the dining hall, but adding the Cotswold hills into the mix. We chose a timeless, yet contemporary font for the logo, too, inspired by publications like Monocle.
 
Of course, the heart of the business would be its online directory, but what’s the best thing about travel, except for those cute little shampoo bottles? The in-flight magazine. So we developed the idea for a quarterly magazine that could sit in cottage rentals across the Cotswolds, helping to inspire visitors before getting them online.

A stack of Cotswold Cloche magazines - concept designed by Mighty, brand agency
Cotswold Cloche branded gift bag concept by Mighty, brand agency A gift box for the Cotswold Cloche - concept by Mighty, brand agency

The story we told

Andrew’s idea was a good one, but it had to make some money somehow. This wasn’t just a hobbyist site. So we developed a fully functioning directory website with plenty of bells and whistles, including options for standard and premium listings, a blog, an events calendar and an interactive map. We kept it clean and ad-free – after all, skyscrapers don’t exactly scream premium – but nice and flexible so that the incoming Cloche team could create packages around both listings and editorial content.

We left plenty of space for lush photography so the team could sell the vision of the Cotswolds. Through our copy, we introduced the idea of the ‘little green book’ – a book of exclusive contacts that you can call upon anytime, anywhere.

A business card design for the Cotswold Cloche by Mighty, brand agency

The Mighty change

The Cotswold Cloche launched in spring 2024, welcoming businesses from across the region into its special club.