Rawhiti Estate is a boutique retirement village located in Remuera. We were tasked with creating a campaign that differentiated Rawhiti from other retirement villages. A deep dive into the industry revealed that the positioning — at the time — for virtually all the brands in this space incorporated photography of deliriously happy elderly people on bowling greens.

We took the time to speak with some of the residents in Rawhiti Estate and asked them to share their stories over a cup of tea. The conversations were insightful, full of humour, and the type of wisecracking wisdom that can only be earned over a lifetime. We sought to bring the wit, discourse, and colour that we experienced in those conversations to the forefront of Rawhiti Estate’s new campaign.

We created six characters who were representative of Rawhiti Estate’s residents and targeted demographics based on those conversations. For each, we imagined a backstory and their aspirations. In doing so, we give our audience the opportunity to see themselves in these six characters, who reflect an accurate cross-section of the residents at Rawhiti Estate.

An illustrative approach to the brand campaign elements allowed us to inject vibrant colour and imagination — evocative of our characters’ distinctive personalities and dispositions — into the campaign collateral. The result is a vivid, eye-catching set of design communications that looks unlike anything else in the market. Upon its launch, the campaign generated a word-of-mouth buzz in Remuera. Almost a year onwards, Rawhiti Estate is now completely full, with a waiting list that continues to grow.