Courtney & Co Blog

Process case study: Molasses Reef, A Ritz-Carlton Reserve

admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:29:16 +0000

Overview
Molasses Reef is a new above-luxury brand by The Ritz-Carlton which consists of a boutique hotel and villa-style residences spread along 1.5 miles of pristine white sand beaches on the uninhabited island of West Caicos, in the Turks & Caicos Islands. The marketing materials needed to communicate what life would be like as a home owner on a deserted island, serviced and managed by The Ritz-Carlton.

Results
50% of Phase I development was sold within one year of a partnership with Courtney & Co, and designs were awarded grand prize in a national design competition.

Download case study PDF (2.7 mb)

Process case study: Example of website design process

admin — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 17:42:39 +0000

Overview
Here’s a good example of our web design process. By separating site design (content & navigation) with visual design (visuals, colors, layout) we are able to efficiently develop sites that are both visually appealing, yet functional— all the while helping to improve business performance. Here’s a few images to help walk you through part of the process.

Results
The CPC site was widely received, and the addition of a Member Forum and Resource Library was helpful to CPC as they work to educate and set best-use practices for protecting children in crises situations around the world.

Download case study PDF (2.3 mb)

Process case study: Logos for the Caribbean Resort Cap Juluca

admin — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 15:59:38 +0000

Overview
Located along the intimate crescent of Maundays Bay on the exclusive island of Anguilla, Cap Juluca’s Greco-Moorish architecture is as timeless as the sea itself. And thanks to a $28-million renovation, Cap Juluca is tailored to today’s travelers and seekers of solace, yet focused on improving your overall resort experience. Courtney & Co was tasked with developing new brand identities for 6 venues throughout the resort. Below are three examples of logo explorations, along with the final logo selected for each.

Results
Cap Juluca is a top 10 Caribbean resort, as reported from Conde Nast Traveler. Working in tandem with new renovations, the resort has fresh logos reflected of the guest experience one would expect from a resort of this stature and beauty.

Download Cap Juluca case study PDF (4.1mb)

Process Case Study: Pilot Employee Benefits

admin — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 13:15:11 +0000

Overview
Pilot Employee Benefits is a local Long Island employee benefits company that wanted to look more professional to compete against larger more established regional companies. Formally known as Rosenberg & Senders, the owners wanted to develop a new name and brand identity that better fit their business goals. The resulting name of Pilot Employee Benefits was the cornerstone for creating a new brand identity, website and marketing materials.

Results
“It not only helped us improve sales, most recently by an increase of 50%, but made it much easier to recruit new employees.” —Josh Senders, Partner, Pilot

Download the presentation PDF (1.6 MB)

Process Case Study: 344 Bowery

admin — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 07:40:01 +0000

Overview
344 Bowery is a conversion of a historic building in the new and growing residential Bowery neighborhood. The building is being converted into full floor loftstyle condominiums. The vibrant, trendy, and young neighborhood was to be reflected in the design of the website and sales and marketing material.

Results
The sale material captured the personality of the building and the neighborhood resulting in complete sell out of the 5 available units.

Download the pdf

Five Acre Farms Launches “Local Milk” in Brooklyn

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 18:56:26 +0000

Courtney & Co designed the brand identity and packaging for “Local Milk” the first product to launch for Five Acre Farms. It can be seen in three Union Market locations in Brooklyn. Stop by Union Market in Brooklyn and buy some “Local Milk”, milk so fresh you can still here it Mooing.

Five Acre Farms is a brand of supermarket-ready produce and products that are grown and prepared within 275 miles of where they are sold. Whether found in New York, Chicago or Washington, DC, all of our products will be true to our mission: to bring local food from farm to table, to bring the farmers market to the supermarket.

The Big Shift: Brands, Media and Consumers in a Real-Time World

admin — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 19:51:55 +0000

Some good takeaways from a session yesterday at Social Media Week here in New York. The common thread among social media startups to traditional icon brands is the importance of creating intimacy with consumers which builds a strong brand. Authentic and credible content is the goal. Impossible to use traditional controls in a real-time world so get comfortable with letting go. On putting brands on mobile devices. You need to ask why do I need a brand in my pocket and what utility can I bring to the mobile user. Metrics on social media and the web are unsure and the bigger questions to ask to access its value is “What do you plan on doing with the metrics?” Radical transparency. Brands as myths are breaking down through social media. Luxury brands as well as brands in general are losing their mystery.

Here’s the video from the session:

smw_newyork_hearst on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

The Religion of Brand Names

admin — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:48:00 +0000

An article from this weekend in the WSJ that I thought was interesting. It’s about brand names having more importance to non religious people, than religious. Here’s an excerpt:

“In an Internet-based study, 356 participants (68% Christian, 19% nonreligious, 4% Jewish, and the balance Buddhist, Muslim or ”other”) were asked to make six choices between brand-name and generic goods, with realistic price differences. The researchers classified the products as either “expressive” (Ralph Lauren sunglasses vs. WalMart’s) or “functional” (Motrin vs. CVS ibuprofen). Subjects then answered 10 questions designed to gauge the importance of faith in their lives.

A subject who attended worship services at least weekly was roughly 20% less likely to select an “expressive” brand than one whodid not; there was no difference in the functional category.”

Link to the full article.

It was taken from an article called “Brands: The Opiate of the Nonreligious Masses?” by Ron Shachar, Tulin Erdem, Keisha M. Cutright and Gavan J. Fitzsimons, Marketing Science (forthcoming).”

Work begins for CPC Learning Network

admin — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 14:23:45 +0000

We recently added CPC Learning Network as a new client. CPC is a non-profit organization based at Columbia University dedicated to improving international humanitarian practice specifically for children in crises situations. We’ve been hired for two assignments. The first is to create a new brand identity for the organization which includes a logo mark. The secondary assignment is to design a website for CPC that will be the primary source for communications and collaboration for the organization and it’s partners.

The goal of the visual identity is to create an easily recognized and distinct name and logo that reflects the core mission and positioning of CPC. The goal of the website is to create an interactive network and knowledge data base for their partner organizations and policy makers. In addition, the web site will act as a forum for stakeholders to post questions and receive answers, or search knowledge-base on specific topics.

Here’s their current logo and web site: http://www.cpclearningnetwork.org

A brand driver board is created before logo exploration begins

Early logo exploration

Example of logo explorations

Early work for Babalua Beach brand identity

admin — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 18:11:51 +0000

We’re in the process of designing a brand identity and web site for Babalua Beach, a 6 acre development on Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Here’s a sneak peak at some of our work.

Brand driver boards and a close up of the logo

Early web site exploration