For a brand to make a meaningful and lasting connection with a consumer, this connection must be rooted in both rational and emotional reasons to believe. Branding and communications in the property sector rely heavily on connecting in a rational way, but finding an emotional connection, at least at first glance, can appear more challenging.

This Wednesday saw the second annual Estates Gazette’s Marketing Summit, an event where the emotional power of property brands was central to the discussion. At the forefront of the conversation was a debate surrounding whether property brands are correctly placed to make a meaningful emotional connection, or whether by their very nature they should operate in the rational realm. One notion of particular interest was raised by Jonty Roots of Bostock & Pollitt, who introduced the Summit to the ‘Supernova’ concept.

Property brands, as we all know, exist in an extremely rapid environment with perhaps the slimmest window to make a lasting connection. They’re expected to achieve a lot and do it faster than most conventional brands, and while many are short lived, ‘Supernova’ brands burn bright in our minds. The key to existing as a ‘Supernova’ brand is firmly rooted in the emotional side of the connection with consumers. Successful brands exist in people’s minds and not just on screen or paper, and therefore adding an emotional level to a property brand can allow it to achieve this and imprint itself on the consumer in the small window available.

Underscore’s own approach to building property brands is very similar to this, as can be seen with our work on The City Mills. When L&Q approached us to develop a name and full marketing suite for a new 761-home regeneration project in the old Hackney textile area of Haggerston, creating an emotional connection was at the forefront of our minds.

The name of The City Mills was designed to tie in closely with the industrial heritage of the area, while our brand story of ‘Made for Living’ was rooted in the views and feedback of the local community who were closely consulted throughout the project. Together these helped create a brand that connected on multiple levels, relating to both the history of the area and the stories of its inhabitants past and present.

Our work on The City Mills was recognised at last night’s Property Marketing Awards, where L&Q was awarded Best Marketing Campaign: Residential Regeneration. A huge congratulations to L&Q on their victory.

To read more about how we created our Made for Living brand, please click here.