CASE STUDY: Asia Square positions itself in Singapore's CBD as a Human Building

Aim
Asia Square, a fully integrated office development located minutes away from the Marina Bay Sands resort in Singapore’s new CBD, wanted to build a strong brand positioning that would differentiate from competitors in the vicinity that were leveraging on the premium address.
 
Execution

Asia Square in partnership with TBWA\TEQUILA\Singapore rolled out a brand campaign, which defined Asia Square as a unique development unlike any other in the new CBD.
 
Offices have always been designed to make business sense. But when a company’s greatest asset is living, breathing people, that’s not enough. So to prepare businesses for the growing knowledge economy, Asia Square was conceived with one very big difference - the people who inhabit it.
 
By applying eco-friendly technologies and sustainable design principles, Asia Square goes beyond just making business sense. It creates the phumanerfect work, live, play and grow environment, which defines it as the Human Building.
 
Created with the essence of the Human Building in mind, the brand advertising campaign deliberately avoided the usual visual clichés of offices. Instead, it told the effect Asia Square would have on the lives of people who work, live and relax there. A strong visual and tonal style, and the use of a square were key considerations in the campaign.
 
The print campaign started with a simple small square positioned right in the middle of a full page. The visual was striking, the copy minimal. A series of square images followed on subsequent pages, each a little bigger than the previous. In this way, Asia Square was able to gradually reveal the story in a beautiful and simple way that brought the Human Story to life.
 
Like the print campaign, the website told the Human Story, but in an experiential manner permissible with the use of sight and sound. Some of the unique features of the full Flash website includes the linear information architecture - visitors can navigate the large canvas of content by dragging the pages using their mouse instead of clicking on a ‘Next’/’Previous’ button.
 
Results
Since the launch of the campaign, Asia Square has stood out among a deluge of advertising for office space in Singapore, clearly differentiating itself from the competition.
 
Within 2 weeks of the launch of the website, the website received recognition from the creative community – Site of the Day at Design Licks and number one on the Top 40 Chart at Design Chart, among numerous mentions on industry portals, Facebook and Twitter.

Credits:
Project The Human Building
Client Asia Square
Creative agency TBWA\TEQUILA\Singapore
Executive creative director John Merrifield
Creative directors John Sheterline, Rupert Hancock
Creative group heads Simon Chew, Danny Teo
Art directors Simon Chew, Alex Kwa
Copywriter John Sheterline
Photographer Stock, Stephan Khoo ("Face")
Typographer  Simon Chew
Print producer Joanna Lim
Account servicing Mandy Goh, Alvina Seah, Sharon Tan, Shellen Yong
Media agency PHD Singapore
Media team Rene How, Amy Tan
Production managers Sally Sim, Allen Pattiselanno, Stephanie Hing
Developer Sean Tan
Exposure Print, online