SMART CITY LOCATING®
Smart City Locating®, a national apartment location service, disrupting the apartment search business.
SCOPE
Brand Design
Art Direction
Creative Direction
Video Production
Case study
PROBLEM
Smart City approached us as they were going through a major shift in their company’s journey. The company was in business six years at the time and had a company valuation of about $25million. They had operations in Dallas, Houston, and Austin, TX, they officially established key positions within their organization, and were ready to embark on national expansion. To top things off, they had over 200K followers across all of their Instagram accounts.
Their goal for this next phase was to become the most trusted, most referred, and most utilized resource among apartment renters in America
The missing link was having visual representation that positioned the company as a major player in the apartment locating industry. We were tasked with doing a complete brand identity overhaul that serviced their physical and digital needs, as well as served as a vehicle for growth and customer acquisition.
SOLUTION
We crafted a cohesive corporate identity that truly reflected where the company was at the time, while not having any restrictions as to where the company was headed. The biggest change the company needed from its previous branding efforts was consistency and cleanliness. Previous assets didn’t seem to serve any purpose. There was no story being told. And there was nothing for customers to connect with outside of needing a place to live. With this being a market that was expanding at a rapid pace, it was imperative for Smart City to have a visual identity that was well thought out and consist across all tough points.
We used a minimal color system to make asset creation, whether digital or physical, super easy to execute. The logo serves as a search icon ,which is familiar across most websites, and a navigation arrow, which is common on most digital maps. We wanted to position Smart City as your ultimate search partner for your apartment locating needs and the logo speaks to that effort.
We landed the tagline, “We take your space personally”, because Smart City truly embeds themselves in the process when helping their clients. Smart City’s agents ensure their customers find the apartment of their dreams as if it were their own so we needed to make sure the foundation on which everything in the company is done was fitting.
Sticking with the theme of navigation, we subtly used navigational guide elements across accompanying assets, which all lead the viewer to a destination.
RESULTS
Since out engagement, Smart City Locating® has expanded operations to eight cities including, Atlanta, Chicago, Fort Worth, and Denver. Across all Instagram accounts they have amassed over 450K followers.
