Client: Populo Living

In 2014 Red Door Ventures (RDV) was a company wholly-owned by Newham Council. Their original job was to build homes for the private rental market, generating income for the Council. In October 2018, their remit changed dramatically. The new Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz tasked them with tackling the serious shortage of genuinely affordable homes in Newham. They are onsite now in over 16 locations, and aim to have over 1,000 new homes underway by June 2022. Their new mission needed a clean break with the past, as the politics surrounding the original Red Door Ventures had become problematic for key stakeholders and was impeding its purpose.

Working closely with RDV and agile creative partners Ian Allison and Paul Roberts, we co-created a core brand proposition, narrative, values, personality and brand promises/key messages. Through creative workshops and RD&D, 132 name were generated, and Populo Living was born (from the Council’s motto: “Progressio cum populo” (progress with the people). The Populo Living team was engaged fully in the agile creative process which unified the team, aligned ambitions and maximised time and budget. We also helped steer the new brand through Council approval. Ian and I then rolled our sleeves up and rolled the new brand out across all channels, extending to interiors, environmental, print, video, events and web.

The logo’s bird icon – ‘Populo Redstart’ – is inspired by the Black Redstart, a protected species that chooses to make its home in Newham, London. It was developed from the lower case ‘p’ of the logo font.