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Downtown Santa Monica

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Seeking to discover a sense of strategy and cohesion for the district that could balance its world-famous Third Street Promenade shopping experience with an expanding sense of local community and authentic roots, the Bayside District—now known as Downtown Santa Monica—looked to Shook Kelley for a critical assessment of the existing experience and a vision for future progress.

The Bayside District was a Property Based Assessment District (PBAD) in Santa Monica, California that partnered with Shook Kelley following an expansion of its territory. In the end, the project engagement resulted in a number of exciting brand projects that would change Santa Monica for years to come, including an evaluation and public report on the urban experience, a vision statement and a new brand identity. Additionally, Shook Kelley offered the Bayside District a new brand name: Downtown Santa Monica.

Based on extended on-site visits and ethnographic observations in the District, as well as numerous interviews with District team, District Board members, PBAD members and local government officials, Shook Kelley developed a Brand Strategy for the Bayside District. The Strategy would later result in, among other projects, a new name, brand identity and signage communications throughout the District.

The study uncovered 21 major insights into the District, ultimately discovering and articulating an important brand misalignment between the perceived meaning of the place and the actual experience of the place. While the District encompassed an entire community, its primary perception was focused on Third Street Promenade. And when the public thinks of Third Street Promenade, they compare it with other commercially-held shopping centers in the area, such as The Grove or Century City Mall. However, the more relevant meaning of the place, as well as its more powerful experience elements, rests in the fact that this is a genuine urban district, community center and accessible downtown. The Brand Strategy pointed to the ways that Downtown Santa Monica could become “Everyone’s Downtown.”

One of the key projects to unfold from the Brand Strategy was renaming the Bayside District. The “Bayside” name suffered from a couple of issues. First, no one was using the name, including most retailers, restaurants and businesses located there. Second, most people don’t even recognize Santa Monica as “Bayside” even though Santa Monica is technically located on a Bay. After extensive scrutiny, research and analysis, Shook Kelley helped the District’s leadership land on the most strategically smart decision for a “new” name, which wasn’t really new at all: Downtown Santa Monica. Locals and visitors could understand the reference point, and the name had an authentic meaning and history attached to it. While other, more “exciting” names were investigated, the final name decision was based on careful, strategic decision-making.

The name was then re-wrapped in a new brand identity and tagline that Shook Kelley developed, in order to contemporize Downtown Santa Monica, and to find ways to communicate the identity for both locals and visitors. The brand identity system is modular in nature and can be used as a supporting element in many different contexts. The new tagline “Everyone’s Downtown” points to both the fact that Downtown is the center of community life, as well as the way that tourists and outsiders embrace and identify the District just as much as local residents do.

The new Brand Strategy direction and resulting projects were warmly embraced by the District’s leadership and became the foundation for a new vision for Downtown Santa Monica. The reinvigorated District has helped steer Downtown Santa Monica away from its shopping mall perception, helping re-differentiate Downtown away from tough competitors and towards a genuine urban experience.

For decades now, Downtown Santa Monica has been a place that convenes people, whether for shopping, eating, entertainment or simply for people-watching. Shook Kelley’s role in the latest generation of convening in the District has been invisible and behind-the-scenes, in many respects. The “new name” for the District is emblematic of Shook Kelley’s role as facilitators for convening, without necessarily taking the starring role: most people haven’t even recognized that “Downtown Santa Monica” has a new name, because the name already resonates so strongly!

The Bayside District was a Property Based Assessment District (PBAD) in Santa Monica, California that partnered with Shook Kelley following an expansion of its territory. In the end, the project engagement resulted in a number of exciting brand projects that would change Santa Monica for years to come, including an evaluation and public report on the urban experience, a vision statement and a new brand identity. Additionally, Shook Kelley offered the Bayside District a new brand name: Downtown Santa Monica.

Based on extended on-site visits and ethnographic observations in the District, as well as numerous interviews with District team, District Board members, PBAD members and local government officials, Shook Kelley developed a Brand Strategy for the Bayside District. The Strategy would later result in, among other projects, a new name, brand identity and signage communications throughout the District.

The study uncovered 21 major insights into the District, ultimately discovering and articulating an important brand misalignment between the perceived meaning of the place and the actual experience of the place. While the District encompassed an entire community, its primary perception was focused on Third Street Promenade. And when the public thinks of Third Street Promenade, they compare it with other commercially-held shopping centers in the area, such as The Grove or Century City Mall. However, the more relevant meaning of the place, as well as its more powerful experience elements, rests in the fact that this is a genuine urban district, community center and accessible downtown. The Brand Strategy pointed to the ways that Downtown Santa Monica could become “Everyone’s Downtown.”

One of the key projects to unfold from the Brand Strategy was renaming the Bayside District. The “Bayside” name suffered from a couple of issues. First, no one was using the name, including most retailers, restaurants and businesses located there. Second, most people don’t even recognize Santa Monica as “Bayside” even though Santa Monica is technically located on a Bay. After extensive scrutiny, research and analysis, Shook Kelley helped the District’s leadership land on the most strategically smart decision for a “new” name, which wasn’t really new at all: Downtown Santa Monica. Locals and visitors could understand the reference point, and the name had an authentic meaning and history attached to it. While other, more “exciting” names were investigated, the final name decision was based on careful, strategic decision-making.

The name was then re-wrapped in a new brand identity and tagline that Shook Kelley developed, in order to contemporize Downtown Santa Monica, and to find ways to communicate the identity for both locals and visitors. The brand identity system is modular in nature and can be used as a supporting element in many different contexts. The new tagline “Everyone’s Downtown” points to both the fact that Downtown is the center of community life, as well as the way that tourists and outsiders embrace and identify the District just as much as local residents do.

The new Brand Strategy direction and resulting projects were warmly embraced by the District’s leadership and became the foundation for a new vision for Downtown Santa Monica. The reinvigorated District has helped steer Downtown Santa Monica away from its shopping mall perception, helping re-differentiate Downtown away from tough competitors and towards a genuine urban experience.

For decades now, Downtown Santa Monica has been a place that convenes people, whether for shopping, eating, entertainment or simply for people-watching. Shook Kelley’s role in the latest generation of convening in the District has been invisible and behind-the-scenes, in many respects. The “new name” for the District is emblematic of Shook Kelley’s role as facilitators for convening, without necessarily taking the starring role: most people haven’t even recognized that “Downtown Santa Monica” has a new name, because the name already resonates so strongly!

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