Q West

Driving customer demand through innovative marketing

When Ashcroft Homes—one of Ottawa’s leading residential and commercial real estate developers—entered the planning stages for a new condominium development in Ottawa’s trendy Westboro neighbourhood, the company sought out gordongroup to provide the kind of integrated branding and marketing solution that has become our specialty within the real estate sector.

Brand development and strategy

The challenge was to generate buzz and build up to a robust sales cycle for a development that existed only on paper. We met that challenge with an enticing brand that recast the bricks and mortar as a fun and fulfilling lifestyle experience.

Following a client briefing, we began work on a brand identity and strategy. We established key audiences, outlined positioning and presented a name—Q West—and the main tagline “Q the new you.” These formed the basis for marketing copy directed at young, hip urban professionals.

Visual identity, logo, design and editorial content

We also created a sophisticated visual identity for Q West, establishing a logo, brand colours and graphic design standards. We applied these elements to a range of coordinated collateral, including publication ads, a launch brochure and a 28-page deluxe buyers’ booklet, and custom sales centre décor and street signage. We wrote all the content for this collateral, based on research and guidance from the developer. The writing style is accessible and engaging, informative yet enticing—the right voice to connect with condo buyers. 

Video

Meanwhile, our digital team had great successes with other key Q West marketing assets: a promotional video, a prospect registration page and the Q West website. The video was based primarily on footage we shot in the Westboro area and edited in-house with polished post-production visual effects. The registration page and the website were designed and coded in-house as well. All of these pieces highlighted the Q West brand.

Social media

Finally, we developed an extensive social media marketing campaign to engage the target audience using the web channels they favour. Our social media activities mirrored the Q West corporate strategy, but went even further, using Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to grow the brand identity in new ways. The online content focused on popular interests, including fitness, arts and culture, community involvement and environmental consciousness, and succeeded in drawing a wide online community. Social media also helped humanize and familiarize Q West in the Westboro neighbourhood and beyond. A key feature of the online campaign was a contest series with incentives chosen to encourage cross-marketing opportunities with local businesses.  

Throughout the project, we worked closely with Ashcroft personnel to capture their vision for the project. We attended weekly strategy meetings and coordinated daily to meet tight deadlines for printing collateral and the launch event. Ashcroft was extremely pleased with our work and subsequently engaged us for several other projects.