Meet the World

Read the campaign story

The room was not the whole proposition. Hostelworld’s May 2015 rebrand used facing arrows in its H icon to suggest a meeting point. June advertising then showed strangers sharing an adventure, making the social possibility of hostels visible. The wider Meet the World programme and its later expressions belong to this single family.

Editorial interpretation: the strategic turn is from buying a place to sleep to choosing a setting in which encounters might happen. That changes what a persuasive image needs to contain. An empty, beautifully arranged room may show comfort while leaving the social proposition invisible. People interacting can communicate a different benefit, provided the brand does not imply that sociability is compulsory or that everyone wants the same kind of holiday.

Editorial interpretation: the icon and the advertisement work at different levels. One compresses the idea into a recognisable sign; the other gives that sign a situation. The useful design question is whether the interaction remains understandable without the slogan. If viewers remember only an attention-grabbing activity, the campaign may have made adventure famous while leaving the accommodation choice unexplained. Distinctiveness needs a clear route back to the service.

The opened reports establish the identity and launch execution, not whether strangers became lasting friends or whether bookings increased. The advertisement’s adventurous activity is historical creative content, not a recommended experiment. Neither a brand symbol nor a social promise guarantees the quality, safety or accessibility of a particular stay.

Show the setting that enables the benefit

A small community venue could communicate the layout that makes conversation easier rather than claim that visitors will make friends. Use a fictional seating diagram and a short welcome message to show options for joining or observing. Ask reviewers what the venue supplies and what remains up to participants. The distinction prevents a promise about conditions from becoming an unsupported promise about personal outcomes.

Let people choose their level of participation

A communal proposition should include a dignified place for someone who prefers quiet. In a hypothetical visitor leaflet, explain both shared and individual activities with equal respect. Check whether the welcome sounds conditional on being outgoing. A brand can make meeting people possible without treating reserved visitors as a problem, and a campaign can celebrate openness without asking audiences to expose private information.

Make the symbol earn its place

Test an unfamiliar meeting-point symbol beside a plain explanation before investing in a full identity system. Ask readers to describe its function, not to rate how modern it looks. If it suggests navigation but not connection, decide whether that ambiguity helps or hinders the brief. A versatile logo still needs surrounding language that makes the intended experience concrete and gives visitors a useful next step.

A small test for another brief

Proposed adaptation: create two paper invitations for an imaginary neighbourhood reading room. One leads with furniture and opening hours; the other leads with optional shared discussion while retaining the same practical information. Use invented names and no real event, booking page or participant photographs.

Ask adult reviewers to identify the offer, the optional social element and the route for attending quietly. Record misunderstandings and unprompted explanations separately from aesthetic preferences. Rotate which invitation is seen first; treat the small review as a way to improve wording, not a forecast of attendance or friendship.

Stop if the invitation pressures participation or implies guaranteed personal relationships. Do not recreate the advertised adventure or arrange encounters between strangers as a marketing test.

• Write both fictional invitations.
• Preserve quiet participation and equal practical detail.
• Compare comprehension privately.