The Branding

So “What's in a Name? .....That which we call a rose”..........

Okay, not about to go all Shakespeare on you but the name was important to me.

Opulent: Don’t you just love it? So how did this name come about? Well, it wasn’t too much effort. As a vocabulary that word always stood out to me, kind of like serendipity, another of my favourite words. But, anyway I don’t want to go in depth about wording and teach you English (thank God for that) but just a rationale on how the name came about. As I mentioned earlier, I liked the sound of it (easy on the tongue), it looked good on paper and the meaning was even better. It's all things grand, luxurious, lavish, deluxe, rich, lush, plush, ritzy you get the idea....Not too long or too short just lends itself to a great email address, don’t you just hate those really long addresses?? A second factor; I was thinking long-term the name portrayed a certain image and was broad enough to develop into other areas should expansion ever arise. As far as I was concerned it was perfect. 

Colours

Yay! colour scheme, this is where the fun starts to begin. I love red but maybe not for this particular type of business. Perhaps yellow, its’ bright, it's catchy but McDonalds keeps coming to mind, Blue is very safe and has been done to death. Now purple, very luxurious but kept getting distracted by Cadburys and the urge to eat Dairy Milk. Then went back to red again but, I wasn't sure if it goes with the whole property investing thing as it's quite financy (which by the way is not a word, I made it up). I have always enjoyed the art of Feng shui and read some stuff on colour psychology: Red being too angry or sexy (...eek! can I say that). Orange is very warm and fuzzy (ain't nothing fuzzy about finance). Green, very earthy and natural (nothing natural about the concrete corporate world). White, very clean and pure which I liked. Getting closer with Black it’s decadent and dark (the grim side of me). But I still wasn’t feeling it until I hit Gold, with so much history, used way before any currency, sreams out wealth and it was universal. It was decided, Opulent shall consist of Black, Gold and White in all its splendor. 

Logo   

The creation of the logo took me back a few years to nostalgia sitting in my art room and with every stroke of my brush creating life on canvas. You know that student who’s artwork will be recalled at assembly, work sent off at junior competitions, portraits still in archive.......well that wasn’t me haha! It did remind me of art though and It took ages. Really underestimated this task. Like always I didn’t have a clue what to go for other than my usual what, I don’t like. I knew I wanted different and not conventional. That meant no pictures of houses, buildings, sloped roofs (still partly a house) or a set of keys; a single key all this just echoed real estate to me. Then it was the other category of wealth creation since many people use property as a tool to get there. These images were too financy (I know, I know, not a word...). Pound signs or even dollars, calculators, pictures of contracts or worst still wills (urgh...not about to die any time soon). It was just awful. I was thinking of using the name ‘Opulent’ as a signature. With a foggy head and many nearly there moments I outsourced the task to my media gal for a small fortune of £40 and that was the end of that. 

She reported back with a semi-wreath saying this kept showing up as an imagery when entering the word Opulent as a sign of wealth. So what does this symbolize? It has significance for the season, its circular shape represents eternity. From a religious standpoint a circle of life, the evergreen portraying growth, fertility and so much history what’s there not to like. It dates back to Greco-Romans who would crown the brave and those victorious. So enough of the history lesson in the layman's term it means for winners and champions and if it’s good enough for Caesar then it’s  good enough for me. Again, just like the business name this logo could be used for many purposes, so from a strategic and business point of view it made sense. All of the above on a business card not only looks asthetically pleasing but so far has never failed to impress and always a great conversation starter in a networking event when one comments ‘I do like your cards’........

Vision, Mission and all things Imagery 

Your logo isn't the only visuals in your brand consider other illustrations, symbols or artwork as part of the mix. When designing our website and (other merchandise in mind) you will see a picture of a great big yacht smack bang in the centre of the webpage. Why a yacht in a property website, I hear you say? Well, it's all a part of the overall brand persona we’re trying to establish. Yachts are considered affluent and generally linked to wealth and this is the image we’re trying to create. Like everyone else we didn't just want a picture of a fancy house or mansion which states the obvious. In essence we are selling a lifestyle. In other words if you dabble in property you too can become successful, retire early and enjoy the fruits of your labour from anywhere. In this case a yacht in the middle of the deep blue sea. Plus the yacht looks amazing on the merchandise.

The vision was none other than to add value to one's life. Experts say find a solution to a real problem and there you have your business idea. It's no rocket science that there is a major housing crisis and/or shortage. Plenty of old work spaces or housing stock which can be brought back into use. We didn’t want to be involved in a useless product or service or creating more materialism and making you buy things you don’t need. We want to add value to life and make a difference. There is also a secondary element to this business in the sense that people can get directly involved and invest so as to create multiple streams of income. Anyone can invest in these projects; it's not just for the elite; students, seniors or singletons, I mean everyone!

‘…No dream is too big, your only regret will be not dreaming big enough’…

and adaptation from Ellen J Sirleaf.