THE CHAPTERS

Engaging a generation

Anchor Hanover is the UK’s largest not-for-profit provider of care and housing for older people, with over 50 years of experience in the space, and services in almost 1,700 locations across England. After the success of their first independent living retirement home, they decided to build new developments across the country, and asked us to create an identity and social media plan for one opening in 2021 called The Chapters.

Our output included…
Audience research
Brand strategy
Brand identity
Copywriting
Editorial design
Print
Media planning
Illustration
Social media
Paid advertising

Photo of the exterior of the Chapters development, showing an outdoor courtyard area with trees and benches. The photo has a sepia effect on it.

The target audience for independent living retirement homes is niche—for those over 55 who have no care needs, are autonomous, and have the means or equity to buy their own homes. This lead us to begin the project with a heavy focus on research, so that we could fully comprehend why residents would want to move to these developments, what reservations they may have, and the impacts on their lifestyles. In addition to constructing and sending out digital questionnaires to gather data, we visited Anchor Hanover’s existing independent living development. Using a combination of unstructured interviews and participant observation, we were able to gain authentic qualitative insights to inform our strategy.

Black and white illustration of a deck of playing cards spread out, the illustration has a gold frame surrounding it.

Black and white illustration of three daffodils, the illustration has a gold frame surrounding it.

Close up photo of a Chapters stitch bound welcome book. The left page is titled ‘The best friends you’re yet to meet’ and has an illustration of a pot of tea and saucers underneath, the right handside page is titled ‘Fighting fit.’

Using the development’s name, The Chapters, as a starting point, we explored different ideas surrounding books and chapters, and the messaging associated with them. From our research, we knew that the obvious notion of ‘new chapter’ wouldn’t engage our audience, so focused on pithier copy that expressed every insight we had learnt, as well as every logistical draw to the development.

Collage of two photos taken from books, one a close up of ‘Chapter 2: The Garden of Live Flowers’ from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ the second shows ‘Chapter 4: The Preparations’ from ‘The Princess Bride’

Close up photo of a hand sketching a deck chair and parasol. The photo has a sepia effect on it.

Black and white illustration of a bunch of letters, the top letter is open and reads ‘To my dear friend.’ The illustration has a gold frame surrounding it.

Black and white illustration of a hotel luggage cart, the illustration has a gold frame surrounding it.

We created hand-drawn, bespoke illustrations using an etching style to reference the beginnings of chapters in old books. Coupled with the layout of the design, and titling each piece with a chapter number, our concept came to life as individual pages of a book on why moving to the development would be the right choice.

Engaging a generation

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Connections

The Atlas