Project Overview

Jellis Craig are a premium real estate agency operating in Melbourne’s affluent suburbs since 1991, with an existing brand identity that was tired, outdated and not reflecting their upmarket positioning. And a recent acquisition of another network - Bennison McKinnon - had further driven the need for change. But the owners of the business - Mr Jellis and Mr Craig - were still intimately involved in the business they had created from ground up, and were incredibly (and justifiably) proud of what they had created. Would they cope with change?

Project Commissioner

Jellis Craig

Project Creator

Traffic Brand Agency

Project Brief

The Jellis Craig experience has always been anchored in premium residences in the Melbourne property market. But the 20-year-old brand identity was no indicator of this as it was tired and dated. And a recent merger with Bennison McKinnon had 'muddied the waters' for the brand, with the 14 office network feeling disjointed and inconsistent.
So the challenge was to create an identity system to reinforce that whilst Jellis Craig are a premium real estate brand operating in a highly competitive market place, they now possess a new, modern philosophy designed to engage a multi-generational audience as they expand their reach into new suburbs.
The solution required a brand language that embraced the diversity and increasing sophistication of Melbourne’s property market.

Project Innovation/Need

Our new brandmark’s foundations are anchored in the font Surveyor, whose origins come from use in historical cartography, and the marking of new territories – a perfect heritage for a company who’s core business is selling homes, and who is currently expanding into new areas.

Given the nature of design principles of the new brand identity, it was opportune to change the format of all of the brand assets to be square format - auction boards, pointer signs, leaflets and collateral, print executions. Everything that could become 'square', did.

Design Challenge

The key challenge was the very different essence of the two entities - Jellis Craig was conservative and established, with its' heartland in Melbourne's leafy, middle class suburbs, reflected by the brandmark being a staid green. Whilst Bennison McKinnion was a modern, energetic business at home in Melbourne's inner city suburbs, with a navy and orange based brand identity. The physical merger had been successful, but both brands were still operating on their own eg in the same publication you'd see a green-based ad for Jellis Craig, then turn the page and see a completely different look for properties that were listed under 'Jellis Craig Bennison McKinnon'. This also applied for auction boards, collateral, offices - everything. The brand was not being presented in a united way across Melbourne.

Effectiveness

In October 2014, Jellis Craig launched the new brand identity to market with a suite of materials all designed by the Traffic team – auction boards, office signage, a range of marketing collateral pieces, print advertising, digital display advertising, stationery, display signage and much more. In addition, a launch campaign for this new Jellis Craig era was created and implemented. Under the positioning line ‘Exceptional’, the campaign highlighted Jellis Craig’s unrivalled knowledge and expertise in each of the regions where they have a presence via a series of region-specific creative executions. Today the brand has entered new markets across Melbourne's metropolitan area including Brunswick, Doncaster and Sorrento, while increasing its hold on the existing inner eastern suburbs of Hawthorn, Toorak, Richmond and Armadale. The business continues to set and subsequently break records every quarter as every office in the network continues to strengthen their foothold in their area.