Emporium House: Building a BTR brand people want to belong to
Client
Allsop
Services
Branding & Campaign Strategy, Interior Design & Styling
Allsop approached Focus to reposition an established Build to Rent development in Reading ahead of the launch of its second building. Previously operating without a distinctive identity in an increasingly competitive rental market, Emporium House needed to build awareness, attract new residents and support leasing across both the existing and new phases, while retaining its established community. Our ambition was to create a distinctive, place-led brand that challenged traditional perceptions of renting and communicated the wider lifestyle proposition, from thoughtfully designed amenities and social spaces to flexibility, convenience and community. The new identity needed to work seamlessly across the resident experience, physical environment and integrated marketing campaign.
Focus developed the Emporium House name and brand identity around the site’s heritage as the former Huntley & Palmers biscuit factory, creating a distinctive visual language inspired by vintage biscuit tins, Reading’s literary heritage and contemporary BTR living. The identity was brought to life across the newly designed amenity spaces by our Spaces team, marketing collateral, film, social content and a new website developed with Allsop and Yardi. Resident facilities now include a media room, games room, events space and coworking areas, designed to encourage connection, flexibility and community. Alongside the brand rollout, we delivered an integrated media strategy spanning Google Performance Max, Paid Search, Paid Social and Programmatic Display. Audience and search data informed channel investment and targeting, while SEO and user journey optimisation helped turn awareness into quality leasing enquiries. The success of the launch came from bringing Focus’ services together as one joined-up approach, connecting brand, creative, interiors, digital and performance marketing to create a consistent experience across the customer journey from first impression to resident experience. The ten-week campaign generated more than 694k impressions, over 7.9k website visits and 64 qualified enquiries.
Google Performance Max was the strongest lead-generation channel, delivering 52 leads, while Paid Search generated a further 13 leads. Paid Social and Programmatic Display contributed more than 588k combined impressions and over 4k clicks. Ongoing optimisation has continued to build momentum. Beyond performance metrics, the campaign successfully repositioned Emporium House as a recognisable, community-focused Build to Rent destination with a strong sense of identity, place and appeal to modern renters. The West building occupancy has risen from approximately 61% to 87%, peaking at 90% in February 2026. The Emporium house project has been such a great opportunity for us to showcase every side of the agency and what we can achieve when we all pull together. The space that Frankie and her team have put together looks amazing and is a great refection of the brand created in the studio. Emporium House has been a brilliant showcase of what happens when Media, Spaces and Creative all work as one! We’ve had the opportunity to shape every touchpoint, from activating the media channels to the creating brand, website design, collateral and bringing the amenity spaces to life. This joined up approach has meant an increase in conversion and leads, and a very happy client!
