Baden-Baden: A Completely New Townhouse Format
EuroDom is the largest developer and owner of low-rise residential complexes in Nizhny Novgorod. The construction and sale of townhouses, houses and cottages has been the company’s core business since 2012.
The Baden-Baden project is an illustration of what truly comfortable housing can and should be – an adaptation of the concept of European low-rise complexes to the Russian market. It is a picturesque and cosy corner of Europe whose residents enjoy spacious personal space and a sensibly organised environment. “A home in a German quarter as a rational decision and the key to a European quality of life, and also a way to stand out through intelligence.
The Nizhny Novgorod developer approached Brandson with the aim of rebranding the existing “Baden-Baden” townhouse complex and developing a pool of verbal, visual and PR communications for the brand in the city’s information space.
To increase awareness of the project among Nizhny Novgorod residents, promote townhouses as a new category of alternative comfortable housing within the urban infrastructure, create a more attractive image of the area and set the project apart from the company’s reference offering in the district in order to attract a new category of buyers and raise the status of the property, the agency team conducted an audit, developed a brand platform describing its emotional and functional characteristics, a corporate identity, an advertising campaign, a brochure and the project website, and produced a series of radio spots and a concept script for a video.
The Brandson team analysed the activities of “Baden-Baden”’s competitors in the townhouse category and found that, in the absence of direct competitors, indirect players have a tangible influence on the perception of the category itself. Two opposing aspects stand out: “the townhouse as a luxury item” and “the townhouse as hard economy class”.
The combination of these two directions results in the absence of any clear notion of the category in the market, and the perception of the message “we sell townhouses” becomes extremely hard to predict: it may be read as expensive and inaccessible, or it may create the mistaken expectation that the property will be of extremely low quality.
We found that the broad audience has a vague idea of the product, based on the established stereotype that “ordinary housing is an apartment, while a house of one’s own requires effort and maintenance costs”. Both of the perception errors mentioned above are embodied in this stereotype: on the one hand, a townhouse is expensive and requires spending on maintenance; on the other, it is of questionable quality and needs finishing work.
Our team thus identified the core of the target audience – “advanced users” who are ready to abandon stereotypes and examine the nuances of the offer in detail. As a reward for their rationality, they want to get something they can be proud of. For them, the stereotypical image of Germany conveyed by the name “Baden-Baden” includes rationality, structure, cleanliness, solidity, attention to detail, honesty, friendliness, cosiness, organisation, goodwill and openness. Owning a “German” townhouse allows the client to satisfy their need to take pride in their own choice.
The advantage of the townhouse as a source of pride – in one’s own choice and one’s personal space for creativity – was embodied in the platform of the renewed brand. The modern world is changeable and dynamic, so those who succeed in it are those who recognise trends in time and master them.
The “Baden-Baden” project is an illustration of what truly comfortable housing can and should be – an adaptation of the concept of European low-rise complexes to the Russian market. It is a picturesque and cosy corner of Europe whose residents enjoy spacious personal space and a sensibly organised environment. “A home in a German quarter as a rational decision and the key to a European quality of life, and also – a way to stand out through intelligence.
The optimal format for those who are used to thinking for themselves”. It is the freedom to arrange the space of one’s life in one’s own manner and to express one’s individuality in it. A neighbourhood based on friendliness and mutual respect, together with the internal rules of the quarter, rules out any intrusion into this personal space. A standard of quality of life in the optimal format for those who are used to thinking for themselves rather than following stereotypes.
We renewed the brand positioning. Today the "Baden-Baden" quarter is a rational choice in favour of a new quality of life, sensible organisation and a framework for community life, thoughtfulness in the details, the opportunity for self-expression, and aesthetics.
The slogan “Territory of Bold Decisions” continues the overall concept. The advertising campaign conveys not only the functional advantages of the category but also the emotional message of the project.
The identity is built on the contrast and harmony between orderliness, clarity, rationality and thoughtfulness, associated with the image of a European city, and the expression of individuality, spontaneity, freedom and humanity. Both the image of a distinct quarter within the urban environment of Nizhny Novgorod and the image of the settlement itself – a clear structure of spaces, each of which is freely arranged by its owners – dictate a concept of self-sufficiency, distinctness from the whole, intrinsic value and freedom within the boundaries of the rules.
The visual solution is based on the statement “Pleasure with care for what matters most”. The concept is aimed at hedonists, but not in the classic Epicurean sense. There is no idleness here, no life purely for the sake of enjoyment. According to this concept, the townhouse is a space of one’s own, a multifaceted source of personal satisfaction through self-expression. It combines a classic hedonistic concern for comfort with rational choice.
