Located deep within the Fairmont Battery Wharf Hotel, Sensing Restaurant faced a fundamental visibility challenge. Despite its waterfront setting, the restaurant was tucked away from foot traffic and surrounded by an intensely competitive Boston dining scene. Adding to the complexity, the restaurant was led by renowned French chef Guy Martin, celebrated internationally, but largely unknown to Boston audiences at the time.

Adams Design was engaged to introduce Sensing as a destination dining experience, one compelling enough to draw diners off the beaten path and into the hotel. With a limited budget and the requirement to build the campaign around Martin’s personal lip-art photography, we transformed constraint into distinction. Rather than positioning Sensing through conventional restaurant imagery, we developed a bold, theatrical brand narrative designed to spark curiosity and desire before guests ever stepped inside.

The creative concept reframed dining as seduction. Martin’s lip artwork became the centerpiece of a provocative visual identity, paired with dramatic, over-the-top language inspired by classic romance novels. In place of lovers, however, the obsession was food, sensual, indulgent, and impossible to resist. This unexpected combination of high art, literary melodrama, and intimate food photography positioned Sensing as an immersive, emotionally charged dining experience unlike anything else in the city.