Salvi Homes

Situation

Salvi Homes has established itself as a leading homebuilder in the Sherwood Park area for over 35 years. Salvi's high-end luxury brand caters to a discerning buyer, while Ironwood Homes specializes in servicing two distinctive audiences: move-ups – families looking to purchase a more affordable higher-end home and empty nesters. The Salvi brand has become the industry standard – a benchmark to which other builders aspire. Their commitment to quality has earned an enviable reputation and respect among Sherwood Park and area residents.

The challenge to ThinkTANK Advertising & Design was to further establish The Salvi brand in Sherwood Park and show Salvi as being a good corporate citizen by supporting many non-profit and charitable organizations.

Task

In late 2012, ThinkTANK was approached by Salvi to become their AOR. This included many tasks, from developing and implementing a strategic marketing plan to logo and branding development for two major projects that Salvi was preparing: Hillshire and Savona.

Hillshire is an ambitious land development project began in 2013. Salvi Group had acquired a 16.72 acre Municipal Reserve on the south side of Sherwood Park, located just west of Cloverbar Road on Wye Road. The land consisted of 12.6 acres of upland Forest and 6.92 acres of reconstructed wetland.

The initial plans included an abundance of nature trails, with an existing elementary school on-site and existing Retail and Commercial development including grocery stores, gas bar, and other professional services directly across the street.

Savona is another ambitious project taken on in association with Strathcona County, in the Centre of the Park development located north of Sherwood Drive on Festival, near Sherwood Park Mall. The primary audience for this property is a mature Sherwood Park resident ready to downsize their home. The secondary audience is the young family looking for a starter home in Sherwood Park, a community where they grow and establish roots.

Both of these project required extensive research into Sherwood Park, its residents and businesses, its proud history and their home purchasing behaviour. ThinkTANK’s role in these projects was to develop the brand identity and rationale for Savona and develop an overall marketing strategy and budget for Hillshire.

Savona

ThinkTANK took inspiration from the Italian Heritage of the Salvalaggio brothers who founded Salvi Homes more than 35 years ago. The client had wanted to brand for the new building to be based on the existing Salvi logo, so we began looking at famous Italian towns that started with ‘S’ to take advantage of the stylized ‘S’ featured in the Salvi logo. We narrowed it down quickly to Savona, the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, a town famous for its hills, farming and it’s proximity to the Ligurian Sea.

Hillshire

ThinkTANK developed an branding system for the new development. Hillshire name took inspiration from the rolling topography of the area directly south of Wye Road and west of Cloverbar Road in Sherwood Park. The name had a slightly Celtic feeling to it. We took this into consideration when developing the logo and included a mildly Celtic-style font but still incorporating the traditional three trees of the Salvi logo, with colouration and shapes representing the hills and water of the topography of the area.

Result

Salvi is preparing to open Savona within the next year, and Hillshire within the next two years.