Residential Property Development Company

PROJECT: This consulting project was an opportunity for us to work with a company that was rebranding and wanted to create its own name, but hired us for our professional opinion, expertise and guidance. In the course of this project, we helped a Toronto-based boutique residential property development company refine its brand positioning and determine which of the company names it was considering best mapped to and supported that brand positioning.

UPSIDE: An upward trend, as in stock prices. A positive result. An encouraging or positive aspect.

BRAND POSITIONING: It was clear from the minute we first spoke with the founders of this company that they are not your average property development firm. As the company says on its About page:

We are committed to urban revitalization, sustainability and innovation. Whether a new build or a remodelling project, we are inspired by opportunities to push the envelope with high design, quality construction and exceptional service. Our role as a developer is to bring together a dynamic team that includes multi-disciplinary experts in their respective fields of architecture, systems design, construction, interior design and engineering. This gives us the ability to source the right solutions through every stage of your home project and create economies of scale as well as a synergistic team effort focused on a single goal: to amaze our clients.

In other words, what this company is all about is bigger than just property development, real estate or construction. It is fundamentally about creating homes that are aesthetically beautiful, ecologically sustainable, and positive forces of transformation in their neighborhoods. We helped our client polish their brand positioning, then evaluated a dozen or so names on their shortlist in terms of that brand positioning, and provided our critique: though one or two of their names were “not bad,” none of them fully lived up to the potential of this company. By working with us and learning about the power of names and the naming process, however, our client developed a new name option, Upside, and asked us to evaluate it for them. We loved it!

The name Upside maps to the experience of creating positive home environments, with the implication of the lifestyle and financial upsides that result from their clients’ endorsement of Upside’s passion for quality and sustainability. The name also evokes a new neighborhood or region of the city — Downtown, Uptown, Eastside, Westside, Upside — an aspirational location at the heart of the modern residential landscape.

Through the course of a unique consulting engagement, our client became completely immersed and invested in the brand development process. We are delighted to have been instrumental in the birth of Upside, and thrilled by the success it has enjoyed since it launched.

Visit: Upside