We started by looking at their challenges, including their main competitors, and how their new brand was going to stand out in the retail marketplace. We asked: What is Home Centre? What do they stand for? What is their purpose? And how does this translate into a children’s brand, creating an exciting new store while also connecting it to the main Home Centre brand and its existing philosophy and values? While Landmark Group knew what they wanted from a retail point of view, they didn’t know how to articulate this or approach it from a brand-centric consumer point of view.

To start with, we held extensive interviews and workshops with their stakeholders and marketing teams in order to get to grips with the essence of their existing brand, before moving onto what this would mean for the new development in the children’s niche. This involved studying their vision, their mission, and their brand values (based off the Home Centre brand Strategic Intent), and finding a way to translate all of these approaches into a unique and fun kids’ experience.

After conducting three workshops (defining what the brand is, how they configure their products and what those products mean, and the actual customer journey and experience), we were able to craft a specific personality profile, taking all the key attributes and distilling them down into a brand strategy and design that combined Home Centre’s existing values with the experience we wanted to offer their new consumers – when arriving at the store, their experience in store, and their after-sales experience, as well as brand communication and digital engagement.

As a result of this research, we recommended they develop a standalone brand, one that is not directly associated with Home Centre (though still having a relationship with it) and one that can live on its own, with its own standalone name. To show how this would work, we presented Landmark Group with a brand story, based on three main pillars: the brand identity, the brand purpose, and the brand positioning – or, ‘who we are’, ‘why we exist’ and ‘what we do’. These three pillars were then woven together into the brand story – an emotional narrative concerning the essence of the brand that aims to inspire audiences, evoking a positive emotional reaction and connection.

A magical brand story to inspire a new generation

For the new Home Centre venture, the brand story was all about the magic of being a child. When we were children, every day was special. Every day we could play and dream of adventure, surrounding ourselves with fantasy, happy in our own, fun little spaces. Therefore, we came up with the idea of ‘Happy Everyday’ – bright, fun, special products that would be strong, sturdy, and durable enough to be used on an everyday basis. We also proposed the kinds of products that would be appropriate and functional for all ages, with add-ons or reconfigurations that would make them as relevant to a six-year-old as to a 12-year-old. With this in mind, Home Centre could focus on creating fun, happy spaces and products, offering children ‘Happy Everyday’ experiences and memories – just as childhood should be.

We got to this point by looking at the basic elements of the brand’s personality – smart, fun, inspirational, friendly, and reassuring – and then discussing how the new store should be experienced, both by parents and the children themselves. From this we created a matrix through which Home Centre could create new products, evolve, and innovate.

Playful and vibrant brand and store experience for young explorers

After Ninth Space had come up with several name ideas, Landmark Group eventually settled on HCK (Home Centre Kids), as it was a new name that could stand on its own, while still having links to the original brand. With the brand strategy approved, focus was then put on developing the brand’s identity, including the logo. In order to keep the new logo connected to Home Centre the same shade of green was used from the original logo, but then a bright orange colour was added, creating something fun and eye-catching. The logo also had to be modular and configurable, with playful shapes that could connect together in interesting ways. This visual language of the design style would be threaded throughout all communication between the company and their customers, with the same logo and similar graphics being designed for letterheads, shop displays, advertising, and product packaging. We also delved deeply into the brand language and brand narrative, using the chosen logo as one of the pillars through which to develop everything else that needed to be communicated through HCK, from the fonts and colours to the kinds of words (and icons) that would be used for each part of their store.

Once the brand narrative and visual language had been established, Ninth Space used the information gathered to design and develop the physical aspects of the stores themselves, pulling out elements of the brand language and utilising them in the approach to the shapes and colours of the walls, the display units, and all points of sale. Landmark Group liked the idea of supersized graphics, oversized installations, and bright colours for the children (with slightly subdued colours for the teen areas), all of which would tie in to the customer journey and customer experience within the store. This also included the product packaging, with the same visual language being applied to each product, creating colourful, fun, and individual packaging that clearly all belonged to the same overall brand. These store plans and packaging designs then became the blueprint for how HCK would develop all of their stores going forward.

Landmark Group may have asked for help with rolling out a new children’s brand, but Ninth Space went above and beyond, providing them not only with their new brand but also with a completely new, unique business format that can grow and expand with ease in the future. HCK is unique in that it’s the only brand born and bred in the region that focuses solely on children while catering for the distinctive regional tastes, styles, sensibilities, and aspirations of their customers in the Middle East and beyond. Now, Landmark Group has a fresh, original business that, while complementing the Home Centre brand when required, can stand on its own and grow in its own direction. We built the HCK brand on a strong, solid foundation (out of which all of the design elements and aesthetics grew), a foundation in which every other element of the business can easily plug into, fitting perfectly into the detailed and distinctive blueprint we designed.