MPA: “Building lasting relationships between people and places.”

CHALLENGE: Mark Pinney Associates is a boutique design and architecture studio in London, specialising in high-end luxury projects. They’ve had a hand in shaping some of the most iconic features of the original Apple stores, and more recently, they’ve left their mark on premium retail spaces along Bond Street, top Mayfair restaurants, luxury hotels in New York, and a long list of stunning private residences worldwide.

Despite two decades working with some of the world’s most high-profile brands, they’ve kept a surprisingly low profile in the design world. That’s where we come in - Mark came to us with one clear goal: help elevate his brand to the level it truly deserves.

SUCCESS: The brand redesign came just as Mark was relocating the studio up river from Tower Bridge to Greenwich and reshuffling the team—a lot for him to juggle at once! But, we’re happy to say he handled it like a real pro and business is now better than ever. The brand’s profile went up as we had planned, and before long, a steady stream of new clients started reaching out, keen to learn more about MPA. Just what Mark wanted!

SERVICES:
• Brand strategy
• Brand name
• Visual identity
• Website
• Print 
• Photography

The first thing on our list was the company name. After a little gentle persuasion, Mark agreed to drop his own name from the business, rebranding as MPA (Mark Pinney Associates) to give the team of associates equal footing. Easy enough.

The real challenge? Convincing Mark to embrace a decorative serif font for the new MPA logotype. He’s an architect, so naturally, his comfort zone was stuck in the usual suspects - Arial, Univers, Helvetica. But we knew the brand needed something with a bit more individuality and flair. After some back and forth, we finally got Mark on board with Avaunt Stencil - a beautifully crafted typeface, hand-cut by a bespoke east London foundry and a favourite of the stylish lifestyle magazines his clients read. Not your typical architectural font, but exactly what MPA needed to stand out.

Next up was the brand workshop - we wanted to peel back the layers and get under the black polo necks of Mark and the team. Now, branding doesn’t always sit well with architects, so we had to tread carefully. It was all about picking our words (and battles) wisely. Trust was key, so we made sure we did our homework.

Our research showed that some of top architecture firms in London prefer talking more about prizes and less about people. But with Mark, it was clear that relationships were front and centre. He genuinely cared about creating meaningful connections with everyone involved - clients, consultants, engineers, builders, and the end-users of his buildings. So, it became obvious: the new brand message had to focus on building lasting relationships between people and places.

Their website was nearly a decade old, not exactly premium or luxury, and far from mobile-friendly. Our research showed that the best architect practices had super visual websites, with minimal text that let the design do the talking. So, we built them a sleek new site using a cost-effective Squarespace template. It showcased their work front and centre, while the back-end was super simple for them to manage on their own moving forward.

Since there wasn’t time or budget for new project shoots, we gave their extensive archive of case study images a bit of love, retouching them in a stylised way to bring the new brand message to life. The result? A polished, high-end look without the high-end price tag.

This was the first time Mark and the team had a proper brand message to work with, so we laid out a marketing plan with simple, step-by-step guidance on how to bring it to life. Tube ads, magazine spreads, banner ads on platforms like Dezeen - we covered all the bases.

On top of that, we helped them craft a social media content and activation strategy, which was a whole new world for them. It took a bit of getting used to, but we got them up to speed and ready to roll.

The new brand identity was designed to be super easy to use, so we helped the team roll it out across everything - from sleek, premium foiled business cards to the fresh new studio in Greenwich, London. It all came together seamlessly.

We’re pretty sure we’ve just about convinced Mark and the team that branding can actually be a good thing for architects - a tough crowd to win over, but we’ll take it!

LINKS:

Marketing Communication News

MARK PINNEY ASSOCIATES UPDATE SEP 2024: Mark and the team are still landing new contracts off the back of the branding and website we put together for them a few years back. As they say - if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!