Built environment
Business in the community
- Brand workshop
- Brand strategy and positioning
- Purpose narrative development
- Brand identity creation
- Visual language
- Copywriting
- Iconography
- Brand toolkits and guidelines
- Integrated
- Art direction
- Employee engagement
- Event planning and branding
- Physical and digital communications
When Landsec approached us to help develop the CSR brand for their London Portfolio, we undertook initial research and quickly discovered their social contribution ran far deeper. In fact, sustainability and social impact underpinned the entire business model: Landsec had developed an employment programme designed to provide long-term opportunities to disadvantaged groups. They had also just rebuilt the HQ for The Passage, a homeless charity in London’s Victoria.
As we explored further afield, these stories were amplified – in Leeds, Portsmouth, and other cities, too. As a result, we asked them to consider a creative strategy that embedded social investment into the DNA of their brand.
Being the UK’s largest property developer, Landsec had big ambitions. They told us they wanted to be the developer, partner, employer and landlord of choice. Then we discovered there was a skills shortage across the UK construction sector with one in five workers approaching retirement. It became clear Landsec’s employment strategy was serving a business need as well as a social one. This was our lightbulb moment: a double win for the business and also for society. Other similar examples emerged and so earth created a messaging structure to articulate these double wins, with the overarching strapline ‘Shaping the future for good’.
‘Shaping the future for good’ soon became shorthand for Landsec’s guiding principle and began to define their worth beyond shareholder value. Their board of directors identified with earth’s idea that if they cared for the cities in which they work, then in turn, those cities would help take care of them. This idea informed the graphic language that conveyed their very own virtuous circle.
We developed an accessible suite of infographics to show Landsec’s positive impact and created content, videos and animations that raised awareness of their work and brand presence. We curated Landsec’s flagship environment conference and during our research discovered George Mpanga – a young London poet whose work echoed the spirit of Landsec’s social approach. We commissioned, George the Poet – now a critically-acclaimed performer – to create a bespoke poem for Landsec highlighting the importance of what a job means to young people.
The poem was picked up by The Guardian newspaper and went viral. To date, the video has had over 49,000 views on YouTube and opened up a new audience for Landsec: the general public.
George the Poet
Our work impacted commercially with Landsec’s share price doubling. They also won the annual Business in the Community Award and became the first property company in the world to have their ambitious greenhouse gas reduction target scientifically approved.
Today, their social investment sits in the boardroom and Landsec is a sector leader in sustainability.
Every plan they draw, every brick they lay, every material they source, is driven by their collective desire to make a positive change in the cities which provide them with a future and a license to operate.
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