Evergreen has used their ‘Essence’ brand discovery process to help create a new master brand for New Zealand leading retirement and aged care property developer Graham Wilkinson.

Mr Wilkinson’s Retirement Assets Limited (RAL) owns 4 retirement villages with co-located aged care services. The aim was to create a brand which enabled each of the villages to keep their individuality and identity, while being strengthened by an umbrella brand.

The Evergreen Essence program involved developing market and internal insights, then running a team workshop for representatives from management, food services, sales, marketing, architectural design and even finance. As the brand must be reflected through all touchpoints, participation by all stakeholders of the business was paramount.

Graham Wilkinson said, “We wanted our parent brand to really capture what we stood for as a national group. Category values of care and security are important, but the points of difference that elevate our villages are passion, individuality and what we call ‘generosity of spirit’. Our generosity of spirit comes to life through our spacious designs, extras services and even financial flexibility. When Evergreen presented our new brand identity, Generus, it was an instant yes from me. The logo design is contemporary and celebrates the vibrant and unique style of today’s retiree. There’s no cookie cutter designs at Generus Living Group.”

The uniqueness and generosity of the village environments has been brought to life in imagery captured by leading NZ photographer Mike Langford. The images break with the traditional stock shots of happy, smiley old people. They depict real residents, real locations and real generosity of spirit.

For more information about the Evergreen Essence brand discovery program, contact Gill Walker.