Brand the system, not the building

Killian Pacific Case study insight

When people think about branding real estate, they usually think about buildings. Logos. Signs. Facades. That works when you have one property. It breaks the moment you have a portfolio. In this video, Chris explains why asset-first branding falls apart at scale—and why the strongest real estate brands are built as systems, not one-off designs. Using Electric Blocks as a case study, we walk through: - Why branding individual buildings creates noise and fragmentation - How system-first branding creates clarity across multiple properties - What leaders need to think about when designing brands that scale If you want your portfolio to feel intentional instead of improvised, this lesson is for you.

Outline

00:00

Intro

Chris from Parliament discusses common misconceptions about branding in real estate, highlighting that many see it merely as external elements like logos or signs. Branding is often treated superficially—like applying wallpaper after construction. Instead, Parliament’s approach treats branding as part of the architectural process, emphasizing thoughtful design from the start.

00:24

System approach for multiple buildings

Chris explains the importance of treating a brand as a system rather than a sticker, especially when managing a series of buildings or a campus. Simple brand systems fail when each building is branded independently, leading to competing elements, a lack of shared logic, disconnection, and fragmented messaging over time.

00:46

Branding Electric Blocks as a system

Chris outlines the challenge of creating cohesion across a group of buildings that felt unclear and disconnected. This wasn’t a design problem—it was a systems problem. Rather than branding each building independently, the team branded the overarching system first. Electric Blocks became the foundational, intentional organizing structure, allowing the neighborhood to feel unified.

01:07

Naming system and building cohesion

Chris explains how the naming system reflected the historical use of the buildings, using “Electric Blocks” as an umbrella concept. Names like Volta and Highwire remained distinct while still feeling connected. The key insight is that strong brands scale when they’re built on structure, not surface treatments.

01:30

Importance of scalable brand systems

Chris emphasizes the value of a system that holds everything together, contrasting it with temporary signs and flyers. He encourages viewers to explore the Electric Blocks case study on Parliament’s website and closes with a reminder to be brave and stand apart.

Transcript

Hey friends, it’s Chris at Parliament.

When people think about branding real estate, they think about a building. A sign. A logo. Oftentimes, branding in these kinds of projects is kind of like slapping a sticker on the outside. It’s like wallpaper that’s put on a wall after it’s already been built. And we’ve found that when you treat it like a sticker, when you treat it like wallpaper, you kind of get what you put into it.

We approach these kinds of projects much like an architect would. We think about it as a system—not a sticker. And that’s especially true when you’re building a brand system for a series of buildings, a campus.

Simple brand systems really start to fall apart when you have more than one building. When you brand each building independently, a few things start to happen. First, everything competes for attention. There’s no shared logic. Nothing feels connected. And inevitably, over time, each building starts to improvise. Consistency is broken. Messaging fragments.

You end up with a portfolio of buildings that feels strangely unclear and completely disconnected. And that isn’t a design problem. That’s a systems problem.

With Electric Blocks, Killian Pacific had already completed three buildings, and two more were coming. If we branded each building independently, the blocks wouldn’t feel like a neighborhood. So we flipped the script. We branded the system before we branded the buildings.

Electric Blocks became the organizing structure. It’s foundational, intentional, and built to scale. We took that into account even with the naming system. Electric Blocks made sense because of the historical use of the buildings, and it worked perfectly as an umbrella. Volta. Highwire. They were all distinct but connected.

Each building could express itself clearly without breaking cohesion.

Here’s the takeaway. Even if you’re not in real estate, strong brands have the ability to scale when they’re designed for structure—not just surface treatments. If you want clarity across a portfolio, create a system that holds everything together.

Signs and flyers—they’re going to come and go. But systems endure.

Dive into the case study on Parliament’s website to learn more. You can find it on our website.

All right, that’s it for me. Be brave. Stand apart.