Higher Living in the Land of Legends.
This branding and marketing strategy for a luxury residential real estate development in Sun Valley, Idaho aims high with aggressive sales goals.
Client: Denovo Properties
Denovo Properties is a real estate developer that specializes in the redevelopment of environmentally contaminated or stressed land.
Challenge:
Denovo Properties hired Gerardot & Co. to brand and market an 850 acre luxury residential development located high in the mountains overlooking Sun Valley, Idaho. Founded in 1935, the infamous ski resort town was an instant success a quickly became a mecca for the Hollywood elite and a training ground for Olympic hopefuls.
Just a mile to the east of Sun Valley, perched at an elevation of 8,000 feet, are the remnants of Independence Mine, a reminder of the booming, but short-lived silver mining industry that brought speculators and hundreds of laborers to the area in the late 1800s. By the turn of the 20th century, the declining price of silver brought an end to the boom. Since that time, Independence has stood quietly overlooking Sun Valley, among its more famous brethren, Mt. Baldy and the seemingly endless wilderness of the Sawtooth mountain range.
Understanding the limited opportunities for available land in and around Sun Valley, Denovo purchased the property of Independence Mining Company and has remediated the soil of any potentially harmful remnants from the silver mine. The reconditioned land is being marketed for 15 multi-acre residential estate lots.
At the price of $15 - $20 million per lot, the list of potential buyers and future residents of Independence is relatively short. The target market includes the same captains of industry and hollywood stars that are known to frequent the slopes of Sun Valley in the winter and escape to the lush mountain trails and streams during the summer.
Solution:
In developing a brand identity system for Independence, we wanted to find a balance of luxury and high value without seeming too elitist. The solution for the brand identity design took the path of simplicity and restraint, using high-quality papers, classic typography and specialty printing techniques to create a very high-end look and feel.
To set this property apart from other, less expensive properties in the area without boasting about the price of the lots, Gerardot & Co developed a marketing tagline that reads simply “Higher Living.” This phrase not only speaks to a higher standard of luxury living, but also capitalizes on the fact that Independence is the only available residential development in Sun Valley above an elevation of 8,000 ft.
Marketing the property to potential buyers, has been limited to a series of targeted print advertisements in local Sun Valley real estate and lifestyle magazines. To create a mystique about Independence and filter potential buyers, the creative behind the series of ads has been purposely short of details. The ads use mysterious and aspirational messaging that leave the reader wanting to know more.
The call to action for all marketing is to visit the Independence development website, which provides only brief highlights of the project and striking panoramic photography taken from the property. This campaign will pick up full steam in the late spring and summer of 2009, with the goal to sell all available lots between July and December.
