Branding and placemaking
Placemaking exercises don’t come with more than a blank sheet of canvas than at the windswept, Thames-side brownfield development in Gallions Reach, London Docklands that we faced back in 2015. Today, Royal Albert Wharf is a thriving balance of an artistic and commuter community.
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Challenge
This award-winning mixed-use urban regeneration is a joint venture between Notting Hill Genesis, The Vistry Group and Telford Homes, backed by The Mayor of London, and forms part of a wider vision for development of The Royal Docks. Our original job was to create a place brand, as well as launch the development off-plan.
Solution
Due to there not being much in terms of local infrastructure, we tied our place brand into the former docking heritage, with the name and main logo for Royal Albert Wharf inspired by the rich history of the place, as well as the stencilling used on shipping packing cases.
We created a sales website that positioned the place as a lifestyle destination, as well as a host brochure to really sell the wider amenities of the area, not just the immediate location. The phased approach to the sales releases over the years, with a suite of sub-brands, each of which aligns to its position within the scheme, as well as to the master Royal Albert Wharf brand. So the Riverside and Parkside phases picked up on the main USP of its position within the wider place, introducing its own distinct look and feel so as to co-exist as part of a dual outlet sales strategy. We also produced an array of place hoarding, wayfinding signage, online and offline marketing campaigns, as well as photography and video of the place too.
Since starting work on this back in 2015, we have enjoyed over seven years of brand development and campaigning on this hugely successful urban regeneration scheme in London.
Impact
Over the years, we have helped drive off-plan sales and lead generation through our targetted campaigns, gaining above industry average open rates in email campaigns for example, as well as driving pre-qualified leads through the website. Our use of emotive campaigns, coupled with a segmented approach improves engagement and the use of lifestyle helps to paint a picture of this flourishing community.
