Battersea powers up branding plan

A secret list of three UK branding consultancies has been drawn up for a six-figure branding project to relaunch Battersea Power Station as London’s ultimate leisure and retail complex in 2008.

The groups concerned have not even been notified, though it is thought the list is likely to include consultancies with international reach, such as Landor Associates, Enterprise IG, Interbrand or FutureBrand. The list is not thought to include Fitch Worldwide or Wolff Olins.

An approach is likely to be made ‘in the middle of next year’, says Leo Hwang, a senior member of Parkview International owner the Hwang family, which acquired the power station freehold in 1996.

Last year’s six-way pitch to brand the 15ha development site was aborted at the last minute, adds Hwang, though it did pave the way for Parkview to bring in Paddy Sutton to head brand development. Sutton is a former account director at FutureBrand, which reached the shortlist last year.

Hwang says consultancies are being considered afresh to create the ‘name and brand identity’ for the Power Station and adjacent site, on the back of Sutton’s ongoing strategic work for Parkview.

The unresolved question, says Hwang, is ‘are we going to brand it in a way that all the other brands on the site [will] have a voice? Or is it going to be an umbrella brand?’ The site significantly exceeds the power station building itself.

Hwang says that an international component for the branding will be vital in order to reach overseas investors, because the Battersea plot is partly visualised as a ‘launch pad for new companies’ in retail, property and leisure sectors.

Two different propositions, one for the ‘public’ and one for the ‘business-to-business’ market are planned.

An attempt to block the development masterplan, devised by Arup Associates, was overturned by a judicial hearing in October.