Al Mouj | Majid Al Futtaim
Life – Inspired
Representing not only new heights of luxury for Oman, but an entirely new category of activated community lifestyle, the brand Fifth Estate developed for Al Mouj Muscat broke new ground and paved the way towards the nation’s multi-faced transformation.
- Brand Strategy and Positioning
- Brand Narrative
- Brand Identity and Visual Language
- Brand Book
- Brochure Design
- Print and Outdoor Campaign
- Digital Campaign
- Outdoor Branding
- Experiential and Spatial Design
- Sales-Enablement Tools
- Sales-Experience Direction
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Set along 6km of stunning beachfront, Al Mouj incorporates residential, hospitality, retail and leisure – an entirely activated lifestyle at the pinnacle of luxury. At the time of briefing, this enormous, ultra-opulent mixed-use development was retail developer Majid Al Futtaim’s first residential project as well as its first collaboration with OMRAN. It also presented the first opportunity to introduce the concept of luxury community living to Oman – a strategic decision made by Fifth Estate that effectively reshaped the nation’s urban landscape and influenced masterplanning from that time onwards.
Upon taking the original brief to launch a selection of villas within Al Mouj, it was immediately clear that a re-evaluation of the entire master brand, sales experience and creating sub-brands would be necessary for immediate and long-term success. Through rigorous evaluation of the context, and the sales experience as it stood, we gained a clear picture of the most pressing needs from a strategic standpoint. Our visit to Al Mouj showcased the brilliance of the offer and its exceptional location, as well as the opportunity to elevate the entire sales experience to ensure this brilliance was clear to its target audiences.
Strategically, this required the contextualisation of the concept of activated community lifestyle where one could live, work and play in a walkable area. Creatively, this translated to the development of identities for each of the four villa segments as precincts with their own energies and characters, all laddering up to a refined master brand. It also demanded the development of a powerful sales experience that made the offer and its excellence tangible to new audiences. This extended the scope of work to include sales-enablement tools, sales-experience design, brochure design, colour palettes, campaign assets, bespoke typography, photography style, logo refinement, naming and identity for four sub-brands and extensive copywriting.
But the results were immediate. Fifth Estate’s 360˚ strategic positioning and creative identity development for Al Mouj as a whole, as well as the sub-offers within it, redefined the Omani lifestyle. Fifth Estate’s huge body of work brought a sharp increase in sales – Al Mouj Muscat was totally sold out. But Fifth Estate’s creative identity and strategic positioning work delivered something far more valuable than sales: we redefined Majid Al Futtaim as the benchmark of excellence. This level of salience, trust and allure is the holy grail for brands as it turns indifferent audiences into captive leads and sees all projects delivered to an immensely welcoming market. It was a masterstroke.
Developer: Madinat Al Foutain, Oman
All creative work had to populate Al Mouj with the energy, aspirational lifestyle and sense of community it sought to embody.
Introducing the Lifestyle Category
Through vivid storytelling and powerful creative exploration, Fifth Estate populated Al Mouj with energy, lifestyle and culture, making it a destination to aspire to. It conveyed a lifestyle category of activated communities that offered opportunities to work, socialise and live in walkable locales – an entirely novel concept for Oman at the time. Through the successful crystallisation of this, Fifth Estate effectively set Oman on a path to embed masterplan communities of this nature at the core of its urban fabric.
Cohesion Across Collateral
Fifth Estate took a bird’s-eye view of the entire masterplan and compartmentalised four areas to create key districts. From here, we were able to create sub-cultures and identities for the Marina, Golf, Lake and Beach districts, each with their own drawcards, energies and offers to lure different audience segments and price points. This required extensive creative development across visual assets and copywriting, not only for the master brand but for each of the four districts.
Context-Informed Creative
Fifth Estate developed a rich colour palette for the entire plan that heroed four bold primary tones – one for each district – that linked to the personality of each place. The bright sun yellow of the Beach district, complemented the indigo blue of the Lake, the vivid green of the Golf district and the powerful red of the Marina. These colours stood proudly because they drew on the mythology of the place while offsetting the timeless black-and-white hero tones of the master brand.
