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Imocasais has remained a benchmark in the real estate sector thanks to its focus on the refurbishment of buildings, the management and construction of property assets and its capacity to identify the potential of the projects it selects.

One of these projects was Ria Shopping. Opened in 2009, the shopping centre in Olhão was looked upon as an extremely promising development in the region thanks to its commercial offer and its proximity to the airport and other tourist locations. It was re-branded and renamed Algarve Outlet, without great success as the locals did not take to the name as well as the initial one. Imocasais recognised the potential of the shopping centre and decided to invest in the project and expand its business areas.

The effort to boost Ria Shopping involved a two-point action plan: repositioning of the shopping centre and profiting of the car park by turning it into a paid parking reservation facility (the details of the project can be seen here). In this case study, we will explore the first point.

Imocasais felt the time was right to recover and stimulate the initial potential of the shopping centre. The main challenge would be to reposition the shopping centre so it would be looked upon by the local consumers as an enticing place to do their shopping, and to transmit a more modern image prepared for the expansion of its activity.

The first step of the challenge was to recover the name of Ria Shopping, taking advantage of the familiarity deriving from its initial name. Together with the recuperation of its former name, we rebranded Ria Shopping, implementing a more contemporary image, drawing inspiration from the region’s historical sites and tourist attractions to combine the familiarity of the name with the renewed image which would alert the target audience to a sense of newness. A brand manual was drawn up to accompany the entire renewal process and provide guidelines for the marketing of the brand.

Complementing the rebranding process and the refurbishment of the shopping centre, we also designed a website to reflect this new era for Rio Shopping. The new platform implements the rebranding image and improves the functionalities that were part of the previous version. The content of the text was written to consolidate the new communication of the brand.

A commercial brochure was also designed to present the new image and strategy of Ria Shopping, with the design and copy following the same communication lines to publicise the new commercial areas of the brand and attract partners potentially interested in investing in the project or in having a shop in the new shopping centre.

With the rebranding process rolled out to the development of a website and a commercial brochure, this was the first step of a major project that aimed to attain two main touch points: recuperate the familiarity that Ria Shopping had previously enjoyed among its target audience and provide a new line of communication and activity that would result in a completely new commercial facility for the locals, and which would be enticing for investors.