Irvine Apartment Communities
Re-Branding a Portfolio of 80+ Communities for Growth

Client:

The Irvine Company, a 140 year-old privately held real estate investment company, whose Irvine Apartment Communities division is the largest apartment community developer, owner and manager in Southern California

Situation:

  • The company wanted to compete more effectively in new and existing markets by:
    • Driving Qualified Traffic to Existing 70+ Communities
    • Driving Qualified Traffic to New Communities
  • They were not currently differentiated in their markets
  • All properties, regardless of target and price point, were marketed in the same way—with a strong focus on amenities

Strategy

  • Shift the perception from properties to people—i.e.: from amenities to lifestyle
  • Re-name the division to leverage the equity of The Irvine Company
  • Create a branding hierarchy with the Division Brand and 6 sub-brands of properties by lifestyle: Signature, Premier, Contemporary, Classic, University and HUD
  • Create an integrated campaign to lower the number of communities viewed for decision-making from 5 to 3, by driving traffic to “portals” where prospects could view multiple appropriate properties: the web site, the information center and the apartment guide

Solution:

  • A fully integrated campaign with the brand promise theme “Love Where You Live” for 80+ properties, rolled out over 3 years
  • Campaign components included:
    • Branded brochures, postcards and printed advertising for each community
    • Web site redesign with 70+ community sub-sites
    • Redesign of the apartment guide, a magazine-style publication
    • Brand update to the information center
    • Advertising for the web site, apartment guide and info center
    • Corporate identity and campaign style guide for the roll-out

Results:

  • 6% increase in traffic during a 15% expansion of the portfolio
  • All existing properties met revenue goals at plan
  • All new properties have leased beyond plan
  • Internal tools performed as well as / better than paid advertising
  • Client won multiple awards for the campaign, which was lauded and emulated across the industry
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