Small Back Room brands Bond Street

London’s Bond Street is poised to roll out an identity and brand guidelines designed by Small Back Room.

New West End Company and The Bond Street Association jointly appointed Small Back Room in August last year. The branding group scooped the contract without a pitch, on the strength of its previous branding work for shopping districts in the capital, including Regent Street.

The two client organisations, which represent retailers in London’s West End, briefed Small Back Room to undertake a three-month project ‘to understand the Bond Street audience mix and find out how we compare with Knightsbridge and Madison Avenue in New York,’ says a spokesman for New West End Company.

Small Back Room interviewed Bond Street shoppers and shop and hotel workers about the definition of Bond Street luxury.

‘The key principle that emerged was curation, or the fact that customers consider the street’s shop staff to be experts in their fields in the same way that museums and galleries are about their artefacts,’ says Small Back Room client services director Tim Lewis.

The interviews turned up two distinct customer types, which Small Back Room has named ‘hedonists and perfectionists’.

Lewis says, ‘Hedonists are there for the thrill of it – they simply have to have those new Jimmy Choos – whereas perfectionists select, say, a Hermès scarf because of the quality of the production.’

The New West End Company spokesman describes the two consumer groups as ‘the nouveau riche and understated traditionalists’.

The customer group definitions have been written into the brand guidelines and will influence the tone of voice and typography for all future marketing materials. Some campaigns will be aimed specifically at each customer group, although most will address all Bond Street shoppers.

Four retail segments will be catered for by the Bond Street graphics and any marketing materials – fashion and accessories, art and antiques, jewellery and watches, and bars and restaurants.

The logo is currently appearing on retailers’ stationery, before New West End Company applies it to a range of marketing materials, including three major annual banner campaigns in the summer, autumn and at Christmas.

London calling

• Small Back Room last year branded a section of King’s Road, London SW3, to try to attract edgy boutiques

• In September 2001, Small Back Room branded London’s Regent Street for Crown Estates, in an attempt to increase the street’s prestige

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  • Mitchell Gumbley November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    There’s nothing wrong with simple, understated design; but when you’re presenting so little, it has to be perfect, because there’s nowhere for mistakes to hide… I just hope they sort out the kerning before they role this identity out!

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