Title	BRUSSELS SHOPPING DISTRICTS
Brand	BRUCITY
Product/Service	ENTREPRENDRE.BRUCITY
Category	A01. Creation of a new Brand Identity: Consumer / Corporate / Non-profit
Entrant	ADOPT Brussels, BELGIUM
Idea Creation	ADOPT Brussels, BELGIUM

Name	Company	Position
Phil van Duynen	Adopt	creative director

The Campaign

The idea was to create a new map of the city centre, divided into shopping districts. Then, to give every district its own identity, the way to turn people’s perception of the city centre into a gathering of shopping villages with specific attractiveness. Furthermore we defined representative symbols of the districts in agreement with the associations of merchants. Then we translated these symbols in the form of easily identifiable pictograms. The challenge was to sum it up in a coherent and declinable graphic set.

Creative Execution

We opted for a simple and timeless style and designed the pictograms in a way that they can match to each other in all possible combinations. We elaborated templates showing how to use the symbols varying backgrounds and designs. Also, to deal with the mobility issue, we declined them in a road signage so as to facilitate the access to the various districts.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

The achievement was to change the perception of the city centre. It is a long term process. Even if we can already notice a significant increase of attendance in the city centre, through the implementation of a few field operations linked to this work ( e.g. ‘Sunday Shopping’), which have reached a large audience, the new identities had still to come to life through communication and supports. We bet that once both social networks and shopkeepers will get used to the districts identities, it will lead to new consumption patterns towards the city centre. Some ideas have already been selected and launched. But work is still in progress and this is not part of the present case.

The strategy is based on the singularity of the city centre. We looked for what could make the uniqueness of shopping in the city centre and quickly noticed that every district had actually a speciality, which was often exclusive. For instance, the Sablon is the only place where you can find such a concentration of antique dealers. The belgian fashion designers, out from La Cambre or Antwerp fashion school , are all located in Dansaert district. The same applies for chocolate-makers, fishmongers, or other terraces and bars having 100 beers on tap… The strategy was to promote a long-term vision rather than marketing stunts. It consisted in a re-design of the city centre map according to its shopping attractive assets.