David Kriozere is in charge of an interesting project. He and his father built arguably the most eye-catching new building in the San Francisco Bay Area. The building is called One Rincon Hill. They went with that name because it is the newest piece of the San Francisco skyline and they decided that the name and the brand should be defined by its location. If you look across the bay as you start to drive over the Bay Bridge you can’t help but see it.
So, by understating the name and associating it with the hill that it’s on, it becomes an integral piece of San Francisco.
Then they took it to the next step. They set up a glorious light on the top of the building that actually tells all of San Francisco the weather forecast. It does it in terms of the color of the light.
When David and I talked about branding, he had an interesting take on it. I told him it was a brilliant branding move: to tell all of San Francisco what the weather is going to be from the top of their building. His response was…
“Thanks. I still think about your idea of “discovering” the brand. What intrigues me is that it is a matter of building on core strengths/characteristics/essences and thus has integrity vs. just promotion for promotion’s sake. Regarding the weather beacon, we are not naming it after the building, but instead after the neighborhood, as it is understood (with the building there) that this is now one of the seven hills in SF, and in fact now the prominent one when you enter the City from the airport or Bridge.
What he’s referring to is one of the basic tenants of Placemaking Group… that you don’t invent a brand, you uncover it. It’s already there in people’s minds. It’s up to a good branding person to uncover it!
Here’s an article from the San Francisco Chronicle about the weather beacon the on the tower.
Tags: Branding
Hi Dennis. I think this is an excellent point. Define your brand by associating it with something that is already recognized in the way you want your brand to be known.