Making the most of a unique opportunity
Notting Hill Genesis – Castle & Victoria
The Shared Ownership scheme has helped numerous people onto the property ladder, the great majority living or working in the borough in which they bought their first home. For various reasons, the scheme is not evenly available, especially in areas with more established building footprints (meaning less development potential) and high concentrations of public and commercial space. The City of Westminster is one such council. Notting Hill Genesis, one of the largest housing associations in London, is offering the only notable Shared Ownership opportunity in the borough – 28 apartments on Castle Lane, just a fiveminute walk from Buckingham Palace. Bell was briefed to develop a boutique brand identity and a full marketing campaign for the scheme.
Our response
The homes are in beautifully restored Victorian buildings, originally constructed as worker accommodation by the Stag/Witney brewery. The specifications are excellent, high-quality with a boutique feel. However, this is accessible housing, so we had to ensure we didn’t go over the top on the ‘luxury’. We also had to emphasise just how conveniently close the development is to everything. For our naming, design and marketing materials, we had to find a unique balance for a unique place.
After writing a brand story that emphasised the unique nature of this opportunity and the multifaceted benefits of the development and area, we began a comprehensive naming process that resulted in the final choice of Castle & Victoria. As well as being located on Castle Lane, ‘Castle’ referenced the storied history of the area and the crown, denoting high-quality but not inaccessible (as the word is such a common term). ‘Victoria’ highlights the excellent transport connections (Victoria Station is mere minutes away by foot) and the former Queen.
Our visual identity was elegantly scaled back, featuring a classic typeface in gold and muted colours and a background pattern inspired by stylish wallpaper to convey a premium feel. Our campaign was led by a beautiful interactive digital brochure with navigation and external links to more and deeper information, including a microsite we designed. We also undertook a local area photo and video shoot and produced a promotional video, a hoarding befitting the nature of the immediate area, HTML emails, floor plans and advertising.
Results
Within one month of the first pre-launch phase, 78.5% of apartments were reserved off-plan. The balance of homes were reserved over the next two months, which means that all properties were reserved over six months before the original formal launch, which is now no longer needed.
What our client thought
“It has been a pleasure working with Bell on the launch of Castle & Victoria. The team have always gone above and beyond, would definitely recommend!”
Habiba Chowdhury, Marketing Campaigns Manager