GARRETT GAZZETTE
INSIDE
HONORING OUR VETS
Volume 1 • Issue 3 • Oct. 25, 2019 • THEGARRETTCO.COM
BUILDING A
BRAND T A behind the scenes peek at how we brand a community
Here are several sketches from the brainstorming process to come up with a logo for the Southlands project.
he American Marketing Association defines a brand as “A name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers”. A common misconception is that branding is simply thinking of a clever name and color palette. Not so! The marketing and communications team members spend countless hours creating brand content and messaging for an array of “audiences”. These include investors, peers, subcontractors, landowners, banks, new hires, existing team members, and of course, our residents (the reason why we are a business!). The Apartment Project Brand When it comes to establishing a singular brand identity for each residential community, our goal is to be intentional, stand out from our peers, and communicate the perfect message for our residents. This brand must make a memorable impression on residents, be thoughtfully related to its locations, and ultimately be recognizable as a Garrett Companies community. All brand designs eventually inherit peoples’ perceptions of the project, and ultimately represent the community, its reputation, and staff customer service. Our branding efforts work in unison with, and are reinforced by, our property staff to create customer loyalty, connect us to our audience, and motivate people to choose our communities over those of our competitors. Research, Brand, Refine, Repeat. Creating a new brand is a complicated process that takes a bit more time than flipping through a dictionary, finding a cool word, and then adding something like “at Cornerstar” (…like we may have done with “Caliber at Cornerstar”). The marketing team puts serious thought into the identity of each and every community. The team starts by looking at the demographics of the market area, our competitor’s offerings, and other data sources to best identify our potential residents. From there the team starts brainstorming ideas for the
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