PROJECT OVERVIEW

Client: Hassalo on Eighth  (Brand Identity+Social Media)
Focus Areas: Brand Identity, social media, advertising

As Marketing Manager for a multi-building highrise luxury apartment property in NE Portland, OR, there’s a lot of moving pieces in abiding by brand guidelines and creating more expressive work to engage with the community. This ‘superblock’ property’s key attributes are innovation and connection with a core value of sustainable living. 

The Challenge

At the beginning of my role, Hassalo’s social media and online presence was not impressive, which, for all intents and purposes gives me the luxury of a blank slate, but it was tough to find a good place to start. Another major factor to improve was the overall voice and visual characteristics of the brand. When they opened in 2015, Hassalo hired Portland’s Wieden+Kennedy Ad Agency for their brand identity. The Brand Guides were solid and timeless, but not adhered to for the past several years. Posters in the elevators were uninspired with rudimentary clipart and lazy formatting and email  templates weren’t much better. It was clear there needed to be a complete brand audit and hone in on the core values of the property, which is close to 10 years in operation, a good time to look at refreshing. The final, most impactful part of my role was planning and executing Hassalo’s events with budgets ranging from 2K-20K.

Key Issues Identified:

• Severely lacking social media and online presence 

• Brand Identity not uniformly represented on the property

• No Brand Guidelines established or utilized 

• Property reaching nearly a decade in operation, and needs a refresh

• Implementing buzz worthy events to showcase on socials for interest in the community 

Goal: Energize the brand’s original brand assets and guidelines while adding some seasoning to the stagnant online and social presence, while also creating events promoting a unique community experience in the competitive Portland rental market.

The Strategy

Rolling up the sleeves to fine tune the visual needs of Hassalo is best categorized into five steps:

1 UI/UX REFRESH

• Website design  pages/assets refreshed, updated and better organized 

• Increase web traffic by implementing more streamlined design, Google Ads, and a blog for specified SEO 

• Hire drone videographer for aerial property footage

• Research PDX competitor’s websites for design and market changes to sharpen Hassalo’s edge

• Utilize photography, brand assets and neighborhood features on homepage

2 SOCIAL MEDIA 

• Create/pin posts highlighting each building’s amenities and living spaces

• Excellent content creation schedule and quality standards 

• Focus content on Hassalo’s events & neighborhood to show living experience at Hassalo

• Apply social media tools to engage current and future residents 

• Promote cross posts and tagging by residents for better engagement

3 PROPERTY STANDARDS

• Create new, on-brand signs for amenity spaces, commercial neighbors & elevators

• Propose property improvements for annual budget to Regional Property Manager, approx. $200K worth of expenses

• Ensure professional services for photos and videos to reflect Hassalo’s urban beauty

• Dedicate promotional material to bring awareness to Lloyd Eco-District certification and sustainability efforts

4 STELLAR EVENTS + CONTENT OPPORTUNITY

• Plan events that are both enjoyable and photogenic

• Mix in my illustration craft to make attractive, contemporary ads/posters

• Display events on social media and website

• Execute events that convey luxury while working within a budget

• Coordinate with local small businesses to tag and cross-post

5 BRAND COMMITMENT

• Obtain official Brand Guidelines from Weiden+Kennedy 

• Create advertising design that works well with brand assets 

• Ensure website, property, socials and all media convey the brand’s ethos

The Execution

2 SOCIAL MEDIA 

• Implement content creation and post calendar

• Shoot videos for each building individually showing floor plans and amenity spaces

• Collect quality content from events for posts

• Launch Youtube account for video assets on website and socials

• Network with local business’ and vendors to cross-post

3 PROPERTY STANDARDS

• Execute new signage changes

• Research, form and pitch property updates for annual budget

• Capture photography of external property features during seasonal changes, ie: the sunny rooftop eco-terrace in the Summer and the snowy city skyline in the Winter

• Collaborate with local organizations, like Eco-Lloyd, a neighborhood nonprofit that was able to obtain a coveted Eco-District Certification, only given to a handful of neighborhoods across the world for their efforts in sustainable urban changes 

4 STELLAR EVENTS + CONTENT OPPORTUNITY

• Research local vendors and themes for quarterly Hassalo events

• Curate themes and details to seamlessly enhance event while also complimenting event/amenity spaces 

• Stoke engagement on socials by reposting resident’s stories to our account 

• Delegate events appropriately so I am able to reserve the focus on collecting content 

• Conduct resident surveys using Survey Monkey to retrieve feedback about events

5 BRAND COMMITMENT

• Perform an audit of all content visible to current and potential renters to ensure proper branding elements

• Produce print and digital material that reflects the brand’s visual and existential voice

• Establish clear brand guides and assets for future projects 

THE IMPACT

Circling back to Hassalo’s brand description: connection, innovation and sustainability; with those keywords in mind it is quite simple to accommodate the brand visually. 

• Connection: Focus on events and the neighborhood reinforces the word connection, something that cannot be bought or forced

• Innovation: Prop-up the alluring Eco-District certification and play with the brand’s colorful palette

• Sustainable Living: According to survey data, Hassalo’s LEED Certification and sustainable property features like the rooftop eco-terrace were the highest priority among Hassalo renters, this is supported by our online and social advertising