Evolving a brand to strengthen its competitive position.

The brief

Argosy’s story has evolved in recent years, so they asked us to help them define who they are and what they stand for and to build awareness and understanding of their story. Specifically they wanted to tell their story in a cohesive and compelling way, differentiating them from competitors, to engage their core audiences.

The solution

After reviewing research on what investors and tenants value and conducting a competitor analysis, we ran a workshop with senior leadership to better understand how they saw themselves, their sector, their audiences and success.  

Our starting point was the development of a compelling single-minded brand story. Our core idea ‘Building a Better Future’ wasn’t a new story, but it was the first time the idea had been expanded to connect all the parts of their business. Being outcome focused, it also created a reason to care for their key audiences.

A number of rounds of changes allowed us to refine the story, build the supporting green building narrative and define the tone of voice. From there, the story was turned into an aligned message house, tailoring key messages to audience needs, while always tying back to the unifying Building a Better Future narrative.

With their story defined, we turned to fully reconsidering the visual identity evolution needed to tell the story in the most effective way. A fresher, more dynamic colour palette built on their existing colours and incorporated a greener, New Zealand community perspective. Photography evolved from featuring just the buildings, to focusing on the people and activities within, and surrounding, them. Icons were made softer and simpler and typography was advanced to reflect the strength and structure of their properties, while also having a strong human element. An illustrative language was added, providing another tool for telling the Argosy story in a more connected way.

Once approved, the next step was to launch and roll-out the new story and identity. Brochures, merchandising, templates, reports and other collateral were developed. The most significant work was designing a new website. Here the focus was on restructuring content by audience, bringing in a stronger storytelling element that reflected the voice of both Argosy and its audiences. Re-writing the copy in the new tone of voice, introducing high-impact photography, videos and case studies allowed us to achieve this in an engaging way.

The brand was launched in late 2023, and the next step was to develop a comprehensive marketing programme to support this. The programme we designed had an initial launch phase to make audiences aware of the new brand, using existing channels, publications and targeted advertising. It will be followed throughout 2024 by a series of thought leadership pieces, regular communication elements and in-depth case studies, to deliver a consistently reinforced story.

The result

After only a few months, Argosy’s new storytelling approach is already having an impact. Firstly, by allowing a more cohesive message to be reinforced in multiple ways, it’s galvanising staff behind their story. More importantly, it’s already being noticed by competitors and audiences alike. As the full programme kicks in over the year ahead, Argosy’s increased awareness and brand understanding goals should be achieved.