Can legacy happen in any sector?

Working with entities as diverse as Zaha Hadid and Heineken, Greenspace takes a tailored approach. Some sectors are an obvious fit with the agency’s aim to create positive legacies, others less so. Let’s start easy, and finish with the feat that took an unexpected brand into the realm of great legacy.

Architecture

Because buildings can stand for centuries after their creators’ demise, architects are at one with the notion of legacy. As artists, they can be less interested in branding. When working with the late great Zaha Hadid in 2011, Greenspace identified four keywords employees used to describe the practice: “charismatic, contradictory, disorganised and brilliant”. Helping to cement Hadid’s legacy, we created a bespoke typeface inspired by her design tropes. We also produced a customisable website with a comprehensive, free, online archive of every drawing and photo of every building Hadid ever designed. The challenge of working with celebrated architects is to communicate their ethos without sounding corporate. For Wilkinson Eyre, rather than summing them up in a sentence, we explored how to brand the practice without being reductionist or commercial. Finding the “WE” in the firm’s name articulated the ethos of Wilkinson Eyre without using taglines.

Property development

Property developers can have a hard time arguing their case for greatness. But some break the mould. Former London 2012 athletes’ village Project Director Mark Dickinson went on to become head of the start-up Anthology — named and branded by Greenspace. Its founding principle was to improve customer service and set new standards for how developers engage with local communities. Anthology and Greenspace’s new book Stories of Home contains photography and tales from people living near Anthology’s London development sites. Similarly, developer U+I was founded with the aims of regeneration and creativity at its heart, making it an obvious partnership for us, our first ever project being a regeneration scheme.

Health

The pharmaceutical industry struggles even more than property developers with its reputation, despite its role in saving and improving lives. Greenspace branded and designed communications for the Pfizer-led Rare Disease Consortium, which unites pharma, academia and patients to improve the diagnosis and treatment of rare genetic diseases. We simplified technical medical information for the layperson, and emphasised the value that businesses like Pfizer bring to consortia with academics, patients and activists.

Luxury

While not everyone has access to luxury, there is no doubt that brands in the luxury sector can have powerful legacies, creating high-quality products that influence culture. We recognised the potential for quality, longevity and legacy in the redevelopment of the Old War Office building on Whitehall. Our goal is to stay true to the building and its history, helping to create a destination and not just a luxury experience.

Finance

Finance is not just for the rich. This was TotalKredit’s ethos when it leapt up to disrupt the Danish mortgage market in the 1990s. Today Totakredit is owned by Nykredit, one of Denmark’s biggest banks, providing mortgage loans to nearly 40% of Danish homeowners through a network of around 60 local and regional banks. When creating the strategy and branding for the mortgage giant, we reminded TotalKredit of its roots. We asked them why TotalKredit had taken that approach in the beginning, and they answered that they “wanted to make homes happen for people”. This answer inspired a legacy-building brand development inspired by the bank’s noble founding principle.

Mobility

The term mobility covers Greenspace’s diverse work with big automotive brands, social entrepreneurial start-ups and green transport initiatives. But what works for Toyota would be inappropriate for, say, Kenyan start-up Kibo. Kibo was set up by a Dutch social entrepreneur who observed that rickety motorbikes are a ubiquitous form of transport in the country. He designed a safe, reliable motorbike tailored to Kenya’s climate and road conditions. The company opens its flagship store in Nairobi in late 2018, with branding that is simple, democratic and gives permission to “Go do”.

Fast-Moving Consumer Goods

It can be challenging to create positive, lasting legacies for fast-moving consumer brands. By nature, their products are disposable, resource-intensive and subject to constant change. In the case of a beer brand, add the problem that alcohol and sugar can hinder good health. But there are certain conditions under which an FMCG brand can transcend itself. Sometimes it has the impulse to capture a moment in social or political history, or the opportunity to leave its mark on a community. Greenspace’s first ever project was a regeneration scheme with Heineken, in the Spanish city of Valencia. Transforming a row of derelict warehouses into a cultural venue for the city, together with Heineken we breathed new life into a community. The venue ran for six years, after which we handed it over to the city to maintain as a cultural destination, as planned at the outset of the partnership. Las Naves Greenspace (yes, it’s also our name) continues to thrive today, and looks set to enrich Valencia’s cultural scene for many years to come.