RECOGNISING THE QUEUES AND BEING NIMBLE ENOUGH TO REACT PROACTIVELY.
As a business we are hyper aware of the need to continually test our product-market fit, to listen to our target audience and keep a close eye on the sector as it continues to evolve and grow.
The idea of coliving and coworking, although not a new one, is without doubt experiencing a resurgence, with global coworking alone experiencing annual growth rates in excess of 20% and 78.5% of workers express a desire to work from home or 3rd spaces like coworking.
When you combine statistics like these with the increased importance of community, connection and support to combat isolation, along with loneliness and mental illness continually being cited of greater and greater importance to 18-40 year olds, we begin to see a significant change in attitudes towards the way we live, work and play.
These changes in attitudes and indeed in the priorities of renters and buyers alike, although I believe inevitable, have in no small part been accelerated as a result of the recent pandemic. They provide what we believe is an opportunity for real innovation that goes beyond simply coworking and coliving, towards more integrated community living and a brand that reflects that.
WHY WE DECIDED TO REBRAND
Continually monitoring the real estate industry, changes to the global economy, the future of work as well as engaging with and listening to our target audience (18-40 year olds) strengthened our resolve to double down on our mission “to repurpose how people live, work and play, creating lifestyle-focussed living to meet the demands of modern urban living”.
A bold mission, which to succeed requires our audience to know we understand them – perhaps, because we are them. We knew it would require a strong, recognisable and memorable brand, supported by a clear message delivered in an authentic, heartfelt way.
This, I believe, is where so many rebrands go wrong. The focus is on the outcome that ‘they’ as an organisation want, not what their market is telling them they need; in this rapidly changing world of real estate, that is a mistake. We went back to basics, asking focus groups about their real problems with living in today’s urban society, and then derived a concise customer promise and solutions which would actually address this.
Our driver has always been community; a value that sits at the very heart of everything we do, but which with the ever-increasing demand for ‘housing’ has been lost, replaced instead by estate living that unwittingly drives separation, isolation and loneliness.
If we are to be successful in our mission, we have to make our highest values of ‘Community, Flexibility and Growth’ hugely visible, understandable and most importantly, desirable.
DOING THE WORK
Doing this work properly takes time. In our case, the best part of 9 months. It began with a need to really get to the heart of who we are, why we do what we do, who we are doing it for and finally how we do it.
I knew this internally; however, now I needed to share a vision that was conceived, gestated and born in my own mind many years ago. Our small team met regularly, we engaged consultants, surveyed our target audience, conducted reams and reams of research to learn how to communicate that vision and our mission knowing that this process, just like the sector, would be one of constant evolution.
Crucially for us, this process of rebranding forced us to look closely at the alignment of our values and if we really do ‘walk the walk’ far closer than we perhaps had until this point. It was the catalyst that resulted in the opportunity to innovate, which I mentioned earlier.
A NEW CATEGORY OF REAL ESTATE IS BORN.
With our values firmly embedded, the reality of the housing market in the UK and the rapidly changing attitudes and priorities of our target audience ringing in our ears, it was clear coworking and coliving alone simply didn’t go far enough to address the real challenges that today’s modern society faces.
In reality, these are niche and far from inclusive, not what community is really about, and something we want to change. Community Centred Flexible Living (CCFL) is our unique answer to the challenges that 18-40 year-olds face today, which is finding quality, affordable but flexible living which can suit an evolution of lifestyles.
CCFL integrates benefits of coliving and coworking and extends their philosophy and sense of authentic shared living into a wider community, incorporating multiple types of housing tenure (e.g. social, rental, shared equity and ownership), office, commercial and leisure with the flexibility to level up or down as residents and businesses move through their individual life cycles.
As you might expect, through the heart of all of this runs a single strong thread – our community, connecting us in every aspect of how we ‘Live, Work, and Play’ together.
CCFL builds on the research and practical success experienced by organisations like Participatory City, where the building of regenerative societies and facilitation of an ecosystem whose foundations are built on acts of participation and involvement, similar to those we are creating, have reaped positive benefits for a previously isolated and largely dysfunctional community hampered by a myriad of societal issues.
I believe CCFL addresses the problems of affordability, quality and stigma faced by 18-40 year olds, eases feelings of loneliness and isolation and reduces the pressure on our mental health whilst simultaneously creating a greater choice, flexibility and standards in a sector where flexible living (rental) is now considered an active and aspirational choice.
Importantly, it provides flexibility in where you live, work and play that are reflective of the journey of life. Here’s a short example:
As a single young man starting out, I might want to experience affordable, social, community living, and so I choose to be part of a 6-person coliving scheme, which will connect me to a diverse and engaged community of individuals both locally, in-person and nationally, virtually.
In a few years I might decide it’s time to upgrade and rent or own an apartment, but I don’t want to lose the community I’ve built my life within. Luckily, I chose CoCity and am able to make that upgrade within a ‘City Centre Hub’ location, a ‘Midtown Spoke’ or a ‘Suburban Village’ in the same development, city or maybe even decided to move across the UK, whilst still remaining connected to and a part of the same vibrant, supportive community. This is our concept of becoming a citizen of the world and CoCity... A ‘CoCitizen’!
COCITY: A NAME THAT RELATES TO OUR MISSION AND OUR AMBITION
In addition to a brand that reflected our values, and messaging that spoke authentically to our target audience, we also wanted a name that embodied everything we stood for.
We made a conscious decision to lean on the now familiar prefix of ‘Co’, not only to reflect our integrated coliving and coworking options, but more importantly to represent the ‘Community’ that sits at the heart of everything we do.
The use of ‘City’ reflects the much broader scope of our communities; cities are inclusive, they cater to and for everyone, and they’re a melting pot of genius, of passion and of everything humanity is and can be.
It also fits our goal to establish CoCity communities in 16 major Cities across the UK.
THE OUTCOME
A brand we are proud of.
One that supports who we are, what we do, why we do it and how we do it.
