Project Overview

Lendlease is a global company with an Australian heritage and local expertise across the core markets of Australia, Asia, the Americas and Europe. The Australian Apartments business forms part of the Urban Regeneration team, and together with our other specialist business units in commercial and retail, we specialise in creating new or revitalised spaces through urban renewal. We don’t develop buildings, we create places to live. And for over 60 years we’ve been practicing this idea on a global scale, crafting and nurturing our developments and spaces to suit the ever-changing lifestyles of our customers.
Historically, our Apartments project teams operated in siloes, not only through their marketing outputs, but the way they engaged with customers. There were major inconsistencies in the way we delivered the customer experience to be memorable and meaningful.
With a massive pipeline of settlements for FY17, we decided to take a national portfolio-based approach to how we operate as a business, standardising collateral and processes wherever we can to ensure we not only obtain efficiencies in time and money, but to make sure we have one shared voice. We wanted to communicate with one consistent brand and look and feel that can be recognised across Australia, no matter what project our customers encounter.
Part of this standardisation piece was to create a standardised Settlement Kit, in which we engaged Houston Group to deliver a solution that met these requirements.

Organisation

Lendlease

 

Team

The Lendlease Apartments team

Project Brief

We pride ourselves on giving our customers the complete experience, from sale right through to settlement of their apartment. For us, settlement is the most exciting part of the process, when we hand over the keys to the owner and watch them commence the next chapter of their lives.
Upon settlement, we hand our customers a ‘Settlement Kit’ which encompasses a Resident’s Guide – a manual on how to use their apartment safely and effectively – and the Settlement Pack – a box that incorporates all keys, swipe cards, accessories, warranties, manuals etc. for their new home.
We realised due to the siloed approach, each Marketing Manager managed the design, production, logistics and distribution of a completely new Settlement Kit each time there was a settlement. This approach resulted in an inconsistent, costly and time-consuming result in the final presentation of these packs and the way they were delivered. We saw this as an opportunity to standardise and take a portfolio-based approach.
The Apartments business set out to create a premium and durable Settlement Kit that would embody the craftsmanship and quality we put into delivering our apartments. The objective was to support brand awareness of our Lendlease masterbrand and achieve efficiencies in time and money for all our current and future projects.
The challenge was set: review the current range of settlement kits that have previously been created and come up with an innovative and user-friendly solution that would meet all the needs and requirements of all our projects.

Project Innovation/Need

The brief grew into the creation of a clever and dynamic solution that could be applied to all future projects, no matter whether it was more of an urban offering or a premium product.
Getting the right balance between quality and practicality was crucial in creating a solution that was easily implemented and effectively used across the project teams.
The solution needed to:
a) Provide a consistent and smart solution which could be used by all projects
b) Be produced in bulk to achieve efficiencies in economies of scale
c) Be shipped and warehoused cheaply and efficiently
d) Have ease of logistics and distribution
e) Raise awareness for the Lendlease Masterbrand
f) Elevate the quality to give it a premium and polished finish which aligns to the Apartments brand
g) Help support a consistent customer journey for every project

Design Challenge

Previously, Resident’s Guides have been bound, presented in a folder or stapled. And Settlement Packs varied greatly from bags, to cardboard and styrofoam. There was no ‘standard’ way of presenting them. We needed to audit all old settlement collateral to establish what elements worked well, and not so well; what were cost effective, and not cost-effective; and what were sustainable, and not sustainable.
The Settlement Pack also needed to include varying sized and shaped pieces, from keys, swipe cards, plugs and alan keys, to bulky warranties and manuals. These inclusions varied greatly from project to project. This presented a challenge for us to create a smart solution that would account for all these elements, while also making it as efficient as possible for the project team to pack, keeping in mind the sheer scale of boxes the project teams had to pack – sometimes up to 300 at a time, taking days or even weeks to complete after collating every single element. This meant that if the Settlement box was too cumbersome or fiddly, the project team would be reluctant to use them – so the design needed to encompass smart and innovative use of space.
Lastly, we needed to consider the customers who receive the collateral - owner occupiers, investors and agents (acting on behalf of their overseas clients). We needed to think about how they were likely to travel with these packs, and ensure the packaging solution was easy to transport.

Future Impact

Our new Settlement Kits have resulted in greater design, production and distribution efficiencies, as well as significantly reducing lengthy internal review processes. The standardised and streamlined approach has allowed our marketing teams to focus more time and energy on other marketing initiatives.
The timing of this piece of work was strategic, as it was rolled out ahead of an extremely busy period for Lendlease Apartments, with a major pipeline of settlements occurring across four major projects in the space of only a couple months. It was a major opportunity for us to connect the project back to the Lendlease group brand, raising awareness for our customers, not only to help them recognise Lendlease for future purchasing opportunities, but for building advocacy with their friends and family.
The solution has been highly regarded internally, and as a result, now being developed and delivered for other asset classes within Urban Regeneration. It’s also being considered for adoption on a global scale to achieve greater efficiencies, but also in starting to build a consistent brand identity across the world.
Customers who have received the kits have been really impressed with how it’s all been packaged up in a smart, compact and stylish box. They love how everything’s in one easy to access place. The bag has also been extremely popular, our customers have said its stylish and versatile design allows them to re-use it for multiple purposes.