for
wanda
at
wordsearch
what
strategy / brand / print / online / digital / onsite / advertising / photography

Overview
One Beverly Hills is a luxury residential development and luxury hotel development which sits on the site of a former department store adjoining the LA Country Club. The plot was bought by Wanda — one of the biggest success stories of China’s economic boom — after the previously planned development by Candy & Candy had taken heavy losses during the global credit crunch. Richard Meier & Partners were the incumbent architects, and their stunning designs opened up the residences to the Country Club and its surroundings with internal and external spaces flowing from one to another, through, between and even under the 190 residence scheme.

Brief
Wanda at this time, were still relatively unknown to the general masses beyond Asia, and along with creating a collection of stunning luxury residences for sale, this was an opportunity to introduce themselves and their hotel brand, Wanda Vista to the West Coast of the US.

The brief was a simple one: to identify, research and target our market. To develop a brand, identity and suite of collateral to market the 190 luxury residences — from one bedroom apartments to multi-level penthouses — and announce the Wanda Vista Hotel.

Response
We developed a strategy to identify and target our market and produced our brand idea: “a life enriched by light and space”.

One Beverly Hills was to offer the pinnacle of condo living in LA. Combining Meier architecture, the LA Country Club location and Wanda’s five-star hotel service, the collection of 190 condos aimed to deliver a benchmark for luxury living in Beverly Hills that would stand the test of time.

A sleek identity system was created with a classic 1 monogram at its core. Implemented in a variety of forms and supporting the word marque when necessary, the “colourless “brand was white where possible — interacting with, or framing imagery and colours in a style synonymous with Meier’s style and the Southern California aesthetic.

I arranged and art-directed the location shoot to curate a phase 1 image library, and rolled this out into print and digital for the teaser stages. Sadly, however, I only managed to see some of these early items produced. 

In 2017 the Chinese government curtailed overseas investment and Wanda were forced to sell. Norman Foster is currently attached for investors Cain International and developers Alagem capital Group. I wish them luck and look forward to seeing what might have been.