Washington Square is a new multi-use development in Bluffton, South Carolina. It seeks to create a new experience where retail, residential, and work spaces come together to foster a vibrant community. The 38-acre site, which bills itself as a “walkable village” is owned and developed by Speyside Partners LLC. The Studio initially worked with the client to develop a comprehensive brand strategy for Washington Square that would communicate the founder’s vision across every aspect of the brand’s identity. Most recently, we worked to develop the brand’s content strategy and oversaw the onboarding process for the company’s new social media team.

The Studio worked closely with the Speyside team in developing a brand strategy that took into account the ecosystem Washington Square would be both developing and cohabitating. This included curation principles for building the community and sustaining growth- how would the various retailers and other vendors on the square be both celebrated for their individuality as well as reflect the Washington Square brand ethos? It also included guidelines outlining how this ecosystem would be structured and develop from a branding perspective.

Given the comprehensive scope, brand strategy work was divided into three phases: Research & Discovery, Strategy Development, and Identity Design. Phase I was a three-month immersive process that laid a necessary foundation for all the subsequent work. This project was very research-intensive as we really needed to dive into the profile of the location and the data of Washington Square’s future customer base.

The most recent work our client came to us with was the activation of their social media presence. The Studio created a roadmap for launch that engaged with the needs of users, stakeholders, and the business. We oversaw execution of this roadmap and most importantly made sure that the core brand framework informed all aspects of our process. We sourced and onboarded the client’s first social media manager and created a content platform for the client’s team to streamline their approvals process and manage a shared content calendar.