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Urban Pacific
Supporting national expansion.
The Situation. A subsidiary of Macquarie Bank, national property developer Urban Pacific Limited (UPL) has a residential project portfolio across Australia valued at approximately $2.3 billion.
These projects include Australia’s largest urban regeneration initiative, mixed-use community housing, mixed density residential and residential/commercial projects and a Gold Coast canal development.
Hughes Public Relations activity for each project ranges from community relations and awareness programs to strategic marketing input, publicity, newsletters and award submissions.
At a corporate level, the consultancy is responsible for UPL’s public image and positioning. Our role includes assistance with tender submissions, publicity, issues management, strategic direction, government relations, sponsorship, copy writing and web management.
All public relations activity for UPL nationally is managed from the consultancy’s Adelaide office, presenting a number of potential geographical challenges that the consultancy manages largely through the use of new technologies.
A key communication aim in recent years has been to establish UPL’s credibility in new markets and to increase awareness of UPL in industry and government circles in line with the company’s national expansion.
Objectives. Key objectives of the communication program are to:
- Drive sales in UPL projects;
- Establish credibility for UPL in new markets;
- Generate community and purchaser awareness of UPL projects;
- Foster acceptance of UPL and its projects among key stakeholders, including government, local communities, joint venture partners, builders and the urban development industry.
Elements. Principal strategies of the program include:
- Coordinating media and direct marketing activity to drive strong sales in all UPL projects;
- Establishing strong links with key property journalists in each market ensuring a regular flow of information to potential and existing customers via the property and land pages of metropolitan and suburban newspapers;
- Staging project launches to demonstrate UPL’s credentials to the property and development industry, local and state government, project builders, engineers and consultants;
- Using appropriate communication techniques in regeneration projects to overcome community resistance relating to the demolition of public housing and the relocation of tenants;
- Using market research to determine motivations for buying, awareness and appeal, public perception and purchaser satisfaction;
- Attending housing and development industry conferences and events;
- Monitoring competitor activity, analysing market trends and monitoring media activity and responding appropriately;
- Identifying award opportunities for the projects as a means of building credibility within the industry and among potential purchasers;
- Securing key sponsorship and speech opportunities for UPL management at major industry conferences and events.
Outcome. Hughes Public Relations has been managing the public relations and communications’ needs of UPL since 1997. Since that time, the value of current project work undertaken by UPL has increased from approximately $200 million to more than $2.3 billion today.
Despite the rapid growth of the company and the national expansion of the business, UPL has preferred to engage Hughes Public Relations to work on its projects nationally.
This is testimony to the high standard of service that the consultancy provides and acknowledgment of the consultancy’s understanding of UPL’s business, its projects and the climate in which UPL operates.
