Forte de Gaia, Autograph Collection
Launching consulting / Image Strategy / Art Direction / Positioning / Social Media / Storytelling
A hotel conceived under the name The Lodge, with the primary ambition of becoming a catalyst for the region’s wine culture — approached through a contemporary lens deeply rooted in the history and heritage of Port wine production.
Acquired by a Spanish investment fund, the hotel was repositioned under Marriott’s Autograph Collection brand. Both its architecture and its services were redefined as a window into — and a catalyst for — life on the other side of the Douro River along the iconic Gaia waterfront. The rhythm of the river and its remarkable beauty position it as one of the most desirable hotels in the city.
the challenge
The Forte de Gaia project was approached as an exercise in transformation through image and context. Beyond any physical intervention, the challenge was to reinterpret the perception of the hotel: evolving from The Lodge, an established five-star property, towards its positioning as part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection, a brand defined by character and individuality.
Architecture
Identity
Heritage
Landmark
positioning
In hospitality, image is not conceived as documentation, but as a form of perception. Each space was observed through its essence, honouring the legacy of its design and architecture by renowned Portuguese architect Nini Andrade Silva. Light, proportion, materials and the passage of time became narrative elements.
The project required a strategic repositioning: transitioning the hotel from a locally recognised Porto property defined primarily by architecture and design into an internationally recognised luxury destination.
To achieve this, we built the foundation of its narrative from the ground up: defining the core message, developing a contemporary visual language, shaping the storyline and creating the launch campaigns that would establish its new status.
The result is not just a shift in image, but a shift in perception — placing the hotel within a new global hospitality context.
image strategy / art direction
Through precise direction and a restrained sensibility, we developed a visual language capable of revealing the character of the space without altering it.
The intention was not to transform. It was to reinterpret. To shift the gaze toward an aesthetic more aligned with an international context where authenticity, detail and intention define the experience.
rationale
Blue Mirage is a visual and emotional metaphor that transforms Forte de Gaia and the city of Porto into a summer mirage: a place suspended between dream and reality, deeply sensorial, inviting the visitor to be carried away by beauty, desire and calm.
This short campaign is built on a poetic and atmospheric narrative, closer to a cinematic experience than a conventional tourism promotion. The hotel is not shown explicitly. Instead, it is revealed through sensations, textures, lights and views, as if discovered for the first time in each shot.
The figure of the mermaid acts as a symbol and guide. She represents water, intuition, femininity, freedom and the magnetism of place. Her implicit or suggested presence accompanies this journey between the Douro and the Atlantic, blending the character of the hotel with the soul of Porto.
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