Building a brand with recognised success in a city that until now was peripheral in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area real estate market, and whose industrial past - along with the lack of new construction for over a decade - kept investors away, was only possible thanks to the vision of Solid Sentinel, which saw in Nooba the tangibility of a new Barreiro, facing the Future.
Nooba
Client.
Solid Sentinel
Starting a business.
Branding.
Brand Strategy & Positioning.
Naming.
Real Estate.
With Nooba, a new Barreiro is born.
Challenge.
Solid Sentinel asked Born to develop the brand for its new residential project in Barreiro. The challenge was to build an attractive promise capable of making Barreiro (and the new development) an alternative to Lisbon, seizing the opportunity of rising prices in the capital.
With a 150 million euro investment, architecture by the S+A studio, and an impressive 518 flats, the project aimed to transform how people live, dwell, and perceive the city. With its prices (starting at 189,000 euros), it presented itself as a viable option for new audiences in the Greater Lisbon area.
Immersion.
We gathered different perspectives on the project: the investors’ motivations, the architects’ vision, the property developers’ challenges, and the local authority’s vision for Barreiro's future. We learnt about the history of the site, a former fishing village, and the day-to-day life and lifestyle of the people of Barreiro. We learnt in depth about its industrial past and the two sides of the coin: on the one hand, the connection to C.U.F. and Alfredo da Silva's inspiring vision, and on the other, its current connotation as a dormitory town with socio-economic challenges, the result of deindustrialisation.
Having understood our starting point, we focused on Barreiro's future. We found new investments and signs of revitalisation.
Strategy.
Without any new construction in the last 10 years, Barreiro had become a forgotten destination, stuck with the connotation of a distant, industrial and polluted place. We quickly realised that it was urgent to change this perception.
This real estate project needed to embrace the city's transformation, which was already visible in its investments in mobility, the environment, and quality of life. Additionally, being just 20 minutes from Lisbon, it was becoming an attractive destination for both locals and foreigners seeking an alternative to the rising property prices in the city centre.
“These major investments are synonymous with growth, development and attractiveness, creating synergies and benefiting the municipality of Barreiro.” - Frederico Rosa, Mayor of Barreiro
Insight.
We want to tell the story of a Barreiro that has attracted visionaries over time, from the Alentejanos who sought a better life in the city to Alfredo da Silva, who saw and seized the greatest industrial opportunity of the time. This is the kind of visionaries that the project's investors wanted to attract: people who, like them, can see the future and the potential of Barreiro to be one step ahead of the others.
“This project is the genesis of a revolution (…) shows our ambition to redefine Barreiro, creating a new lifestyle for those who want to escape the hustle and bustle of the city while maintaining the necessary proximity to it..” - Alain Gross, Solid Sentinel CEO
Naming.
A new brand to spark a renaissance across an area calls for a new sound. Dumbo or Soho, were some of the inspirations that led us to create Nooba to designate the new address in this New Barreiro.
“The name Nooba literally comes from the idea of a New Barreiro. The brand seeks to convey the idea of a rebirth of the city, similar to what happened in Brooklyn, New York..” - Duarte Vilaça, Born CCO
The description ‘Apartments on the river’ reinforces the location and privileged view; the tagline ‘A fresh new living’ conveys a fresh start on the banks of the Tagus for all Barreiro residents and new inhabitants of the city.
Visual Identity.
If Nooba is a bold and ambitious project, its brand identity must be equally daring. Breaking the boundaries of traditional property codes and creating a vibrant universe, inspired by the river bank. For those who see further ahead and dare to want everything for less
Launch.
In addition, Born developed the strategy and creativity for the project’s media launch. Still, in the context of the pandemic, SolidSentinel and S+A architect Miguel Saraiva presented the project in a digital format. With some expectations regarding the property market and the Lisbon and international target, we developed a communication plan to attract these targets and make Barreiro known, but it wasn't necessary to put it into practice because the sales results exceeded expectations.
Impact.
What started as a property branding project became a city-wide transformation movement that has emerged as ‘the largest ongoing project on the South Bank’ (in Visão). In a very busy year in the property market, with capital movements of around 11 billion euros in Portugal, the online newspaper Eco chose Nooba as one of the 25 biggest deals of the year (2023).
Key Figures
150.000.000€ of investment
+50% of units sold during the first 6 months