The branding and communication project for the loyalty programme, based fundamentally on the shopping centres’ apps, tells a love story in which the customer is the protagonist. Colombo Loves Me, and Norteshopping Loves Me are the first materialisations.
Sonae Sierra Loves Me
Client.
Sonae Sierra
Creating new products & services.
Branding.
Digital.
Naming.
Retail.
A benefits & rewards program that was born to show the love Sonae Sierra centres have for their customers.
Context.
The shopping centre sector has re-imagined its relationship with customers who, since the pandemic, have been navigating more comfortably between physical and virtual environments. ‘Colombo Loves Me’ and “Norteshopping Loves Me” are the brands of Sonae Sierra's new loyalty plan, where the customer is the protagonist of a love story, receiving a passionate declaration from their favourite shopping centre.
Challenge.
In this context, Sonae Sierra challenged us with the branding and communication project for its loyalty programme, based fundamentally on their centres' apps. The consumer as the focal point.
Process.
Given the contingencies of the project's implementation schedule, the branding phase was developed in a ‘brand sprint’ process. The strategic and creative paths were debated and decided on face-to-face and interactively between extended teams from the agency and the client.
The process brought together decision-makers from both sides and focussed on issues such as positioning, naming, identity and communication.
Insight.
During the brand sprint, we made the strategic decision to make the loyalty programme the ‘core’ of the centres’ apps. This was done to enhance its relevance and to emphasise the consumer as the focal point, positioning them as the target of the centres' rewards.
It was also decided that the brand should have an emotional tone. For this, we came up with the insight “Love can only be paid with love” (a popular saying in Portugal) to translate everything the shopping centre gives its customers as a way of thanking them for their preference and their love.
Naming.
The name's creation took the insight further, with the “Loves Me” designation used as a suffix for each centre’s brand. Colombo Loves Me, and Norteshopping Loves Me are the first materialisations that show how the centres feel about their most loyal customers.
It's a verbal formulation that adapts to the names of each shopping centre but still constitutes a cohesive system with obvious communication synergies for the entity that manages the shopping centres: Sonae Sierra.
Visual Identity.
The new brand's visual identity was inspired by its digital context, its need to differentiate itself from the shopping centres' daily communication, and to reinforce the emotional element that unites the customer with the shopping centre and vice versa.
The ‘brand sprint’ also included brand applications on the app. The launch campaign was the next step in the project.
Its need to differentiate itself from the shopping centres.
Campaign.
The campaign placed the client at the centre of creativity, surrounded by the brand icon. Its touchpoints were the centres and their digital ecosystem. The launch plan was structured according to the project’s various targets and included several phases, including one-to-one actions with visitors at the centres. Online and offline complement each other, replicating the behaviour of the consumers themselves.
