We gave a 160-year-old landmark its
boldest chapter yet.
PROJECT
Brand Strategy + Identity, Brand Experience
CLIENT
ALH Hotels
Young & Jackson had the address every brand dreams of.
Corner of Flinders and Swanston. 160-plus years of history, gold-rush diggers, soldiers on their last night before war, a scandalous nude painting that once made a cathedral move its own doors. On paper, an icon.
In practice, a pub Melbourne walked past without a second thought. Tired. Unexciting. Underneath a $3.5 million restoration sat a brand with no clear identity to match it – one that couldn’t decide whether it was a heritage relic or something new.
The challenge wasn’t to modernise the building. It was to modernise the feeling of walking into it.
Corner of Flinders and Swanston. 160-plus years of history, gold-rush diggers, soldiers on their last night before war, a scandalous nude painting that once made a cathedral move its own doors. On paper, an icon.
In practice, a pub Melbourne walked past without a second thought. Tired. Unexciting. Underneath a $3.5 million restoration sat a brand with no clear identity to match it – one that couldn’t decide whether it was a heritage relic or something new.
The challenge wasn’t to modernise the building. It was to modernise the feeling of walking into it.
We stopped trying to make Young & Jackson one thing.
The pub was never a single identity – it was six spaces, six moods, six different reasons to walk through the door. So we built a system that let every room keep its personality while still belonging to the same story.
Art became the device that held it together. Each space was mapped against a different art style and a quintessential Melbourne experience. Same brand, different brushstrokes.
The platform, Made for Melbourne, gave the pub permission to be historic outside and bold within – heritage in the bones, freshness in the voice. The campaign line, Old Meets Bold, did the heavy lifting everywhere from OOH to matchday posters to the Rooftop’s own sub-concept, Little Victories.
The pub was never a single identity – it was six spaces, six moods, six different reasons to walk through the door. So we built a system that let every room keep its personality while still belonging to the same story.
Art became the device that held it together. Each space was mapped against a different art style and a quintessential Melbourne experience. Same brand, different brushstrokes.
The platform, Made for Melbourne, gave the pub permission to be historic outside and bold within – heritage in the bones, freshness in the voice. The campaign line, Old Meets Bold, did the heavy lifting everywhere from OOH to matchday posters to the Rooftop’s own sub-concept, Little Victories.
Young & Jackson stopped being a stopover and started being a destination.
The brand gave Melbourne a reason to plan a visit, not just pass through one – pre-theatre drinks, grand final day, a rooftop golden hour, a dinner at Chloé’s. Every room now has its own voice, but every voice signs the same name.
Same corner. New chapter.
The brand gave Melbourne a reason to plan a visit, not just pass through one – pre-theatre drinks, grand final day, a rooftop golden hour, a dinner at Chloé’s. Every room now has its own voice, but every voice signs the same name.
Same corner. New chapter.
On the corner of Flinders and Swanston, a Melbourne story has been unfolding for over 160 years. A bluestone canvas marked by gold-rush diggers, departing servicemen, big nights and first sips, with the city humming outside. A heritage frame, constantly repainted – shaped by Melbourne, and reshaped for it. Every era lives side by side here. And like any great artist, we sign every piece with pride.
Young & Jackson. Made for Melbourne.
