Solstice truly stole the show at this year’s Denver MAME (Marketing and Merchandising Excellence) Awards!
This ceremony, hosted by the Sales & Marketing Council and the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver, awards high performers among builders, developers, architects, interior designers, sales, marketing and construction leaders in the Denver homebuilding market. Categories showcased within this prestigious program include real estate marketing, sales, interior design, architecture and building.
Luckily, our creative work with Solstice led us to the top, and we were honored with seven accolades for our real estate branding and marketing projects with the master-planned community from Shea Homes. Below, we’ll share the awards we received for our projects with Solstice and the creative design and strategy behind each branding and marketing element.
Solstice is a boutique new home community by Shea Homes located in Littleton, Colorado. Rooted in nature, home and family, this community is designed for homeowners from all walks, or rhythms, of life in Colorado – whether first-time buyers, move-up families or active adults. Located along the High Line Canal, next door to Chatfield Lake and State Park, its incredible location that offers access to a wide array of exciting outdoor activities fully inspired our team’s branding and marketing efforts and led to an inspiring campaign for this unique community.
To create the perfect community logo for Solstice, our team considered how we could establish brand imagery that evoked a sense of time and was inspired by the changing of the seasons. . The gorgeous sunsets seen along the Rocky Mountain range from the community highlights the four seasons of Colorado fun that residents will enjoy at Solstice.
The Solstice logo is a comforting circular design that includes natural hues to connect to the community’s celebration of nature, the rhythm of seasons and the feelings of life, warmth, and kinship. The design incorporates hues of orange and gray with small dotted additions of white, blue and red that evoke a sense of tranquility and harmony.
The graphic designs and imagery we developed for this incredible master-planned community helped us to solidify the community’s brand identity and guide the audience's movement through the designs, making it easy for them to navigate the composition while creating a recognizable imagery between the different marketing deliverables. Our creative work successfully captured both the pleasure of being at home, as well as the beauty of the remarkable Colorado landscape that distinguishes Solstice.
Through gorgeous four-season photography and consistent branding elements, our team created enticing designs that not only connects well with the targeted audience but allows them to have a better experience.
When we developed a community brochure for Solstice, our team intended to showcase stunning landscape views from the community, provide relevant information to capture prospective buyers, and deliver engaging branded design and community descriptions. We’d like to think that this award means we fully achieved these goals!
The final result was a beautiful booklet filled with abundant eye-catching nature imagery and plenty of brand character. These elements gave homebuyers a glimpse into the intriguing spirit and appeal of Solstice. By incorporating seasonal components that evoked positive emotions and a sense of comfort, this branding piece told a story that allowed viewers to gauge how the community truly provides added value year-round through a heartwarming environment full of community amenities waiting to be explored.
To offer a more tangible experience of the vibrant Solstice branding, our print ad showcased the most desirable aspects of the Colorado community. With beautiful color and immersive imagery, the Solstice print ad highlighted the master-planned community’s most exclusive offerings –access to both the High Line Canal and Chatfield Lake and State Park.
Not only did the advertisement share the beauty of these two Denver treasures, but it also illustrated the lovely connections that residence experience at Solstice through a two-sided spread. While one side featured a pair of kayakers on Chatfield Lake, the other included two couples meeting along the High Line Canal trail. Across the bottom of the ad ran the copy Home Sweet High Line – the master-planned community’s ode to its connection to the proximity of the High Line and Chatfield State Park being right outside your front door.
After gathering key insights into the benefits of the Solstice lifestyle, our team developed an excellent brand strategy for the community’s advertising campaign that could effectively convey the master-planned community’s best qualities to homebuyers in a compelling way. The focal point we selected centered around offering The High Line Canal as a special amenity of the master-planned community – an exclusive promise that distinguished Solstice from every other master-planned community in the Denver area.
To communicate this element in a heartwarming way, we chose a tagline that encapsulated the peace of being at home with the setting of the High Line Canal. The simple yet stirring tagline we created was “Home Sweet High Line.” This brand promise effectively blended the extraordinary Colorado scenery with the delight of home to make the two interchangeable in the lifestyle of Solstice homeowners. When residents are at The High Line Canal, they’re truly at home.
For Solstice’s core branding messages, Milesbrand prioritized showcasing the community’s perfect sizing, natural amenities and purposeful design intended to complement the High Line lifestyle. To do so in an austere way, we shared simple haikus that spoke to the community’s natural elements and thoughtful design that encourages residents to appreciate endless moments saturated by the sweetness of nature. Haiku is the poetry of appreciated moments, so we could think of no better way to share the beauty of Solstice than through these quaint verses.
We intended for a visit to the Solstice website to act as an immersive experience for prospective homebuyers seeking to discover more about Solstice and its potential to become their new home. Appealing messaging aimed at homebuyers appears throughout the website to share the various benefits of life at Solstice including:
Through both digital and traditional marketing tactics, Milesbrand utilized the community’s strong branding elements to implement an effective strategy that would successfully expand the reach of the master-planned community. Digital promotion methods for Solstice consisted of various tactics including:
Achieving these awards wasn’t an effortless process; it was accomplished thanks to the talent, dedication and perseverance of our skilled team here at Milesbrand. If you’d like to join our collection of award-winning clients, we’d love to help you uncover your brand’s compelling differentiation and convey that to homebuyers through an extraordinary brand vision!
Reach out to our team and let us know how we can take you from land to brand through our fantastic creative design and marketing strategies. Develop award-winning master-planned community branding with the help of our team today!