less banjo, more synth: how can development stand out?

In 2015, Mumford and Sons released their album Wilder Mind in which they ditched their iconic banjo for a synthesiser. Bar the chagrin of a few who bemoaned the change, the album was a success. Sure, they could have gone with the all too familiar banjo that made them famous in the first place to satisfy the market, but for how long?

So what does this have to do with property development and architecture?

Everything.

We live in a consumerist society in which people make choices based on a plethora of options on offer. We make choices with fashion. We make choices with tech. We make choices with entertainment.

In fashion, tech and entertainment, consumer brands are aware of the competitive landscape, so they strive to stand out so as to command a share of the market (and to keep increasing this share). But they don't do it by copying their competitors or by playing it safe, because by trying to appeal to everyone, they end up appealing to no one. If Apple gave the market what it wanted in 2007, smartphones wouldn't exist and Snake would have been the ultimate app in 2025.

Instead, consumer brands stand out by innovation. And this innovation is underpinned by design, branding and marketing. Design may be the vessel of innovation in consumer goods: It solves a problem. It makes life better. It makes the product appealing, but it doesn't do it alone. If you come up with something new, something people haven't seen before, marketing becomes as pivotal as the design to communicate the novelty to the market and get a buy-in. But design and marketing are also not enough. Consumer brands need to build a reputation, to signal to their target consumers that they 'get' them. Branding makes this happen.

This is because success is an ongoing process, not a one-hit wonder. An integrated marketing-branding-design strategy allows brands to keep innovating and not rest on their laurels, to become tired, to become repetitive, to become boring. An integrated marketing-branding-design strategy allows brands to evolve whilst leading their consumers with them as they adapt and change.

We live in a consumerist society in which people make choices based on a plethora of options on offer. We make choices with property. People choose where they want to live, where they want to work, where they want to shop, where they want to socialise.

And the choices are abundant. So how can development stand out to attract a share of the market? By adopting an alternative design model that integrates architectural design with marketing with branding.