Domicle has started marketing their new condo on Champagne Avenue at Hickory Street. It’s a 12 storey tower on a podium facing Champagne with six townhouses facing Hickory. The name HOM has an accent over the O to make it sound like HOME in Swedish.

The marketing scheme is interesting. It’s big on IKEA style signage. The green exterior signage vandalized (graffiti) on Sunday was cleaned up by Monday morning, so they are alert.

The market package inside (kitfolder) follows through on the same Ikea theme. With the popularity of design TV — the HGTV channel, for example — viewers/consumers are becoming much more design-conscious. In this case, they took it one step further, featuring a Pantone-style colour swatch right on the some of the materials, to make the viewer feel part designer themselves( ie , project themselves into the picture):

The builder has set up two model suites in the old printing plant that is now on the site, which they will later demolish  to construct the tower. He even built a simple but effective portico to the entry:

Just inside, there is a scale model of the tower and townhouses for those who prefer to dream in 3D:

Inside, they furnished the two models to appeal to two different markets. There is a one-bedroom-plus-den furnished with simple mod furniture to appeal to first time buyers. There is a considerably larger two bedroom unit with traditional furniture that appeals to downsizers/empty nesters. The model suites have poster-sized aerial photos * mounted beyond the windows and patio doors that are most effective in making you forget you are only on the ground floor. Indeed, it is easy to be oblivious to the fact that the model is a fake room, as seen here:

 

I loved this rug, and rolled it up to take it home. But I couldn’t carry it and the clear glass coffee table both, so I had to leave it for a subsequent visit. Enjoy it while you can.

Some people like fantasy sport teams; others dream of whatever. I enjoy visiting sales models, it’s a great chance to poke at a curated set of furnishings and accessories designed to impart a particular impression or message. Deciphering the message is part of the fun.

The sales models are open for viewing. I was there on a preview for area bloggers. Domicile is trying to use relevant social media to convey its marketing message and get the word out. John Doran, the owner, was shrugging this off with an aw shucks: “I don’t understand any of this, but my daughter said we’ve gotta get with it and use social media” stuff, but the phrasing, launch, and marketing effort was slick, comprehensive,  and very well done. The medium is the message. The medium today was amateur unlicensed bloggers. The MSM, with professional educated hacks   writers/journalists was arriving to conduct interviews as we left, having eaten their lunch.

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* the aerial shots for their prior project at Holland used a remote control helicopter to take the pix:   http://westsideaction.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/boys-toys/