Ultimate Branding

I am in San Diego today.

It seems for the better part of the last six months, there has been a great deal of information on the slowing housing market throughout much of the United States. No surprise really, the housing boom carried a somewhat weak economy for the last three years fueled by low interest rates, new housing developments, and Americans worried that if they didn't buy now they'd be priced out of their respective market.

Almost all would say that we are now in a housing bust (not a total bust - but at the very least a mild bust which has lead to very noticeable slowing). Hardest hit have been the markets who were on fire just 12 months ago -- like Las Vegas, Sacramento and San Diego.....

Especially, Downtown San Diego where there is a new high rise condo project on every corner. The market is flush with pricey loft units overlooking the Gaslamp or Pacific Ocean; but fewer and fewer buyers are feeling the pressing desire to pay $600 a square foot for a peice of property which may loose value six months from now.

So, with all this negative press in the air -- imagine my shock when I saw "300 suites sold in 9 hours." At first, I was sure it was a joke. But sure enough, after I checked with the sales staff, yes they had really sold 300 suites in just under 9 hours. Amazing.

Were the suites/units the best available on the market? Did the building have an amenity that no other building had? Were there some other major perks that were encompassed in the purchase? No, no, and no way.

What was the story? This is an example of ultimate branding 101.

With each and every corner being developed by big, faceless developer types all of the new high-rise condo units had become ubecquitous. Every unit was the same. Every unit was overpriced.

Wnter The Hard Rock Hotel-Condo project.

How they sold 300 suites in one day in a down market in not a story of construction or design, or even location (where real estate reigns king). No, this was a story of branding. The Hard-Rock created an ethos about their hotel-condo project made people from all over feel that this was the only place to buy. It was so fundamentally "cool" that there was really no other choice. There was this creation of a vegas-like casino slash San Diego beach-club that would attract all the pretty people. For many, this sealed the deal right away. Its no surprise that the units themselves are nothing to write home about. In fact, just down the street their are two much nicer condo projects with better design and functionality that aren't selling as quickly. But atlas, sometimes branding your concept is more profound than the product itself.