Abraham Hostel collaborated with HIPSTORY to create an illustrated brand ambassador and massive billboard.

Abraham Hostel, Israel’s primer hostel brand that hosts over 100k travellers each year, launched their Tel Aviv branch - the city’s largest hostel - in 2016. The hostel is named after the biblical figure Abraham, who is known for his hospitality and traveling, and who’s a symbol of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. 

For their Tel Aviv launch, the hostel reached out to HIPSTORY, seeking to create a brand ambassador: Abraham himself! 

As biblical Abraham lacks any visual reference point, the artist behind HIPSTORY, Amit Shimoni, had an exciting challenge on his hands. He ended up creating three different versions of Abraham to connect with different archetypal Abraham Hostel travelers: the activist, the backpacker, and the urbanite. Each version is colorful and youthful, using Abraham Hostel’s brand patterns as their background.

Abraham Hostel ran with the activist Abraham, integrating him seamlessly into social media campaigns, and placing him prominently in their hostel entrance. Most of all, they enlarged Abraham into a massive billboard which adorned the side of their building for over a year. As their hostel stands at one of the main intersections leading in and out of the city, it had a huge impact, communicating the hostel’s friendly values on a massive scale, and enticing viewers to smile, ponder, and organically share on social media.

As the hostel receives guests from across the globe, HIPSTORY’s Abraham portrait has been an awesome way to welcome all who come. He still serves as the hostel’s brand ambassador, and has been used in follow up campaigns, too!