SoDo on Main

Painting a New Picture

SoDo on Main, a multifamily property in Houston, TX, faced a significant challenge. The building’s occupancy had dipped below 50%, and the property team recognized the need to attract a new audience of tenants. The property required a fresh brand, one that better aligned with the surrounding community of young artists: something eclectic, vibrant, and inspired.

They contacted CBRE Calibre Creative Group, and we took on the task of rebranding. We began the rebrand by developing new options for names, logos, and taglines that spoke to the creative target audience.

Our creative vision drew inspiration from  Houston's thriving public art scene, particularly the bold, colorful murals and street art. We adopted bright, eye-catching colors paired with geometric shapes and hand-lettered accents—a perfect reflection of the surrounding community's creativity and energy.

We also crafted a series of value propositions that highlighted the buzzing energy and show stopping amenities the property offered. After some thoughtful work and collaboration with the property team, the brand was ready for launch.

Three, Two, One: Launch

To generate excitement around the brand launch, the project team designed a three-phased plan: a brand teaser phase, a logo reveal phase, and a full brand launch. All phases were designed to thrive in the context of social media, especially Instagram, where our target audience was most likely to see and engage with it.

We designed eye-catching window decals to engage passersby in the walkable area of downtown Houston, introducing the new brand while providing wayfinding to the leasing office and directing the audience to the new SoDo on Main website. These had a social media spin, with areas where people could take selfies with the new branding as a backdrop, and even SoDo on Main’s new logo features elements akin to the grid lines of a phone camera.

For social media, the project team developed a suite of Instagram visuals that teased additional brand elements and began to introduce the newly defined key value propositions. The complete rebrand was unveiled in a video that introduced viewers with the new SoDo on Main.

The Results

The launch was a resounding success. The target audience saw SoDo on Main in a new light, and total occupancy almost doubled, quickly rising to 89%, compared to 48% in November 2021, just before the rebrand launched.

In addition, CBRE Calibre Creative Group’s efforts were recognized at the MarCom Awards, where our SoDo on Main campaign took home a Platinum award amidst 6,500+ entries from 45 countries, and won a Bronze award at the Indigo Design Awards.