Manhattn’s: Lady Liberty’s trip back across the Atlantic.

Deliverables
Brand Strategy
Brand Identity
Messaging & Taglines
Packaging
Apparel
Signage
Print
Website

Team
Shawn Scott
Brand Strategy, Identity Design, and illustration
Aia Arkoncel
Production Design

Manhattn’s is a family owned chain of burger restaurants in Belgium founded by brothers Jerry and Phil Vandermeulen all about showcasing their love of New York City with an over-the-top passion, and an “if I can make it here, I can make it anywhere” dedication to fresh, high quality ingredients, great food, and imaginative spaces.

Confident in who they are as founders and their vision for where they wanted to take Manhattn’s, they had come up short on several attempts to capture the energy, grit, and nostalgia that would evoke an iconic New York experience through their branding. They had one more chance to get it right with their decision to open a new flagship location in Paris, when they reached out to me to discuss the opportunity to give their brand a refresh.

They wanted to work with me because they recognized my eye for nostalgia, and appreciation for classic, authentic branding and design, which could give their brand the right spirit and energy.

My goal in working with them to refresh their brand was to build on the brand equity they had already established – 2 tone yellow and black color pallette, and lady liberty as a brand icon – not to start completely from scratch, but to rethink their use creatively to create something new, iconic, and truly ownable for the brand. I also wanted to create the kind or rich and dynamic brand system they were always missing that would allow for lots of fun extensions and communications that could bring come to life in their restaurant menus, signage, packaging, and apparel. I also brought a new voice to Manhattn’s with clever tigelines like “Best burgers on the block!”, “Made it to the top”, and “Manhattn’s state of mind” to help weave Manhattn’s into the cultural fabric with references to iconic phrases.

The challenge for me was that New York City is big, historically, vast, and culturally rich. Having limitless creative possiblity can be almost suffocating, but Jerry tipped me off in the right direction. He shared something special about his unique experience while studying acting and theater abroad, which was the classic steakhouses and burger joints that he enjoyed hanging around during his time living there that inspired him to create Manhattn’s.

The solution creatively was to visually evoke a classic night on the town experience, evocative of the 1940s, neon lights, marquee signs, and handpainted storefronts, but to intersect that with the golden era of fast food, the 1970s. With a more funky and playful edge to it all. I wanted the brand to evoke nostalgia of your first visit to New York taking in the sites, sounds, and iconic landmarks, but make it feel new, fun, energetic, and unique to Manhattn’s.