Dingbats:
When Buildings Become Their Own Brand

Real estate market­ing offers an abun­dance of orig­i­nal ways to market a prop­er­ty. In one of our earli­er Expert Tips (https://valdivia-consulting.com/en/names-of-buildings-advertising-through-an-immaterial-foundation-stone/) we discussed prop­er names. In our current issue, we are taking this idea further: How can you, with little effort, turn even a plain build­ing into a distinc­tive and orig­i­nal prop­er­ty with its own market­ing effect?

The Orig­i­nal Ding­bats – Offspring of Early Pop Culture

The answer comes from the South­west of the US, where it reached a certain degree of fame in Los Ange­les. In the 1950s and 1960s, the metro­pol­i­tan city was grow­ing rapid­ly. Resi­den­tial blocks, shaped after the Euro­pean model, howev­er, did not real­ly fit the US-Amer­i­can life style. So a type of house with very little need for space began to spread on count­less small prop­er­ties: the ’bunga­low on a garage’. In order to add some indi­vid­u­al­i­ty to these hous­es, they were given imag­i­na­tive names, deco­ra­tions, such as flashy façades, Span­ish-style light­ing, or a play­ful ornament.

These orna­men­tal elements would give the type of house its name: ding­bats – a term taken from print­ing jargon. Even if ding­bats initial­ly met with little appre­ci­a­tion from purist archi­tects, they demon­strat­ed one thing: It takes a lot of effort to turn a build­ing into some­thing special – into an object that creates its own brand.

One Idea – Many Options

Essen­tial­ly, a name in typo­graph­i­cal­ly attrac­tive design or a simple symbol will do. What counts is that all involved parties will take this brand­ing element seri­ous­ly and make consis­tent use of it:

• For market­ing, it is perfect­ly obvi­ous. Every­body will be happy to employ the brand as a name or term – from construc­tion signs and the exposé to the app for tenants.
• Archi­tects and inte­ri­or design­ers are need­ed as well, though. A promi­nent place at the façade sure­ly is the most impor­tant loca­tion. In addi­tion, the brand symbol can also appear on doors or walls in the hall­way, in eleva­tors, and on the door open­ing system’s screen. Further suit­able elements are light­ing, floors, or handrails, which can also be designed to match the brand idea.

This way, there will be read­i­ly visi­ble hooks, not only for market­ing. Tenants will be given a refer­ence point in their every­day lives as well. And even media cover­age will be so much easi­er with a catchy prop­er name.

Archi­tec­ture And Brand­ing – No Opposites

The aim of such an imple­men­ta­tion is very much the same as with the orig­i­nal ding­bats. It is about break­ing through unifor­mi­ty with simple means, creat­ing an anchor for iden­ti­fi­ca­tion. It should not go unmen­tioned that the brand will stretch beyond market­ing: It will become an inte­gral part of the archi­tec­ture itself. A success­ful process will involve all parties – client, plan­ner, and marketer – and these will pull togeth­er and devel­op a vision for sustain­able use.