Department
Content MarketingService
- (002)Social Media Marketing
Mount Lavinia Hotel
A connected digital marketing system that turned a busy calendar of dining, entertainment and cultural events into stronger reach and engagement.
Service-Based Case StudyService-Based Case Study
Club Bentota
Making a Holiday Feel Familiar Before You've Even Been.
What we deliveredWhat we delivered
Department
ProductionService
- (021)Videography
- (022)Photography
Overview
A Familiar Escape, Seen in a New Light.
Club Bentota had something many resorts spend years trying to create: character. With decades of history, distinctive architecture and a setting between the Bentota River and the Indian Ocean, there was already a compelling story behind the property. But having that character and communicating it online are two different things.
Zephra's task was to refresh how Club Bentota presented itself on social media without stripping away the personality that made it recognizable. Through original photography, videography and a new creative direction, we brought the resort's atmosphere into its digital content, making the experience itself the reason to pay attention.
Department
Content Marketing
Service
Social Media Marketing
Making Every Scroll Feel Like a Getaway.
Club Bentota already had the experiences people look for in a beach getaway. The challenge was making those experiences stand out in a crowded social feed. We approached social media as more than a place to showcase the resort, using a combination of original content, distinctive design and experience-led storytelling to give travellers a reason to stop scrolling, explore the property and consider it for their next holiday. With different audiences drawn to the resort for different reasons, we ensured the content balanced leisure, adventure and hospitality without becoming repetitive.
Not Everything Needs a Modern Makeover
Club Bentota wasn't short on things to show. It had the beach, river, dining, watersports and an architectural character shaped by decades of history.
The opportunity was in how those experiences were presented. Rather than follow the familiar resort formula of polished facility photographs and promotional messages, we developed a more expressive content direction. The goal was to retain the warmth and familiarity of Club Bentota while making its social presence more engaging for travellers discovering the property online. We wanted the feed to capture the personality of the place, not simply provide a digital inventory of what was available.
A Little Nostalgia Goes a Long Way
The creative direction wasn't about recreating a particular decade. It was about giving the content that familiar, sun-soaked feeling of looking back on a good holiday.
Warm imagery, bold typography, playful compositions and expressive color treatments helped create that character. Some posts leaned into a nostalgic visual language, while others used more contemporary layouts and punchier messaging.
Take the cocktail creatives. Instead of relying on conventional food-and-beverage photography, the drinks became part of the design itself, with oversized lettering, graphic contrasts and playful copy adding energy. It gave Club Bentota a more distinctive visual presence without making every post look identical.
More Than a Room With a View
A resort experience isn't defined by any one facility, and neither should its content be.
Our content direction moved between the property's different experiences: breakfast by the water, cocktails, river cruises, beach moments, architecture, rooms and watersports. This variety was important for more than keeping the feed interesting. It allowed Club Bentota to speak to different reasons people travel, whether they were looking for a relaxed beach holiday, family time or something more adventurous.
The challenge was making these different subjects feel connected. Consistent creative choices helped hold the feed together while giving each experience room to stand on its own.
Content With a Reason to Exist
Not every post needed to sell a room, but every post needed a purpose. The more atmospheric content helped introduce the resort's character. Experience-focused posts gave potential guests reasons to consider visiting, while informative creatives, stronger captions and clearer calls to action helped communicate what the property offered.
The visual treatment changed depending on the message. A cocktail creative could afford to be playful and typographic, while a beach or lifestyle reel could let the imagery do most of the talking.
That balance helped keep the content from becoming one continuous sales pitch, without losing sight of the larger objective: making Club Bentota a more compelling choice for a future holiday.
Department
Production
Service
Photography
Capturing the Charm Through a Lens.
Photography was an opportunity to build a visual library that served more than one purpose. Beyond showcasing the property, we wanted imagery that could appeal to different traveller interests and give Club Bentota a versatile collection of original content for its ongoing social media communications.
Finding the Holiday in the Details
Our production team travelled to Club Bentota to build an original photography library capturing both the property's facilities and the experience of staying there. Beyond accommodation, food and drinks, we focused on natural light, tropical textures, candid interactions and the quieter moments that gave the resort its character.
Rather than disguising Club Bentota's age with an overly polished, modern resort aesthetic, we embraced its distinctive architecture, traditional materials and nostalgic charm.
The result was a collection of imagery that showcased the property while giving us versatile, original assets for its refreshed social media presence.
Service
Videography
The Art of Making Somewhere Feel Familiar.
Club Bentota had the kind of setting that gave us plenty to work with, but we weren't interested in producing another predictable resort tour. We wanted to give ordinary holiday moments a little cinematic charm, using the personality of the place to create videos that people would enjoy watching even when they weren't actively planning a trip. The goal was to build familiarity and curiosity around the resort before someone had even considered making a booking.
Some Holidays Feel Like Memories Already
There's something about an old holiday video that makes you miss a place you've never even visited. That feeling shaped our approach to Club Bentota's videography.
Our team travelled to the resort to capture its experiences firsthand, from river journeys and beachside moments to dining, drinks and the slower pace of resort life.
Rather than producing conventional property walkthroughs, we focused on movement, natural interactions and everyday experiences that would translate into engaging short-form content.
The Sound of a Holiday You Haven't Taken
The footage captured the experience. The editing gave it character. We paired selected reels with older and jazz-influenced music, using the soundtracks, pacing and visual treatments to create a sense of nostalgia without making the content feel dated.
Some edits gave smaller moments room to breathe, while others carried more energy to suit the experience being showcased.
Each video was developed with social media in mind, turning original footage into versatile, experience-led content that felt less like a hotel promotion and more like a holiday memory worth making.
Results and Performance
A Different Feed. The Same Club Bentota.
The clearest result of the work was the change in how Club Bentota's identity translated to social media. Original photography and videography gave the resort a stronger foundation of content, while the new visual direction brought more personality to how that material was presented.
The refreshed feed brought together dining, accommodation, leisure and lifestyle experiences through a more consistent creative approach, without treating every subject the same way. The transformation was particularly visible when comparing the original social presence with the new content. Rather than simply making the feed more polished, the work established a more expressive way of communicating the character and experiences Club Bentota already had.
Conclusion
Still Club Bentota. Just Seen Differently.
Club Bentota didn't need a new identity. It needed a more interesting way to tell its story. By combining original production with experience-led content and a distinctive creative direction, we brought more of the property's personality into its social presence. The charm was always there. Our job was to make people feel it before they arrived.
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