Brief
Laing Homes was a division of John Laing plc, a leading house builder in the UK. Their management wanted to transform the business from a volume house builder into a premium brand, targeting upmarket customers. This required a strategic move away from an existing ‘middle market’ positioning.
Solution
Nucleus was commissioned to develop and implement a new brand experience for Laing Homes, across all media – online and offline. The key objective was to change customer perceptions and create a market leading premium housebuilder brand. We also supported an internal communications strategy to ensure that employees were galvanised into delivering a new vision for the brand.
At the heart of the brand identity, a ‘pineapple’ symbol (historically used to signify hospitality) embodied the Laing Homes proposition: individuality, quality and modernity with a sense of tradition.
Results
The new brand supported higher margins and greatly increased profits. The property portfolio quickly expanded to include top end prices of well over £1 million, operating profits climbed 73% over one year (achieving an immediate ROI on the entire brand programme, 12 times over) and customer satisfaction was measured at over 85%.
Laing Homes soon achieved a premium market position which outperformed the entire sector and was sold to Wimpey for £297 million to become the only acquired brand to be retained by that company, as their premium housebuilder brand.