Landsec creates new brand identity for Piccadilly Lights

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Sep 2, 2021

London’s famous landmark — the Piccadilly Lights —- is no longer just Europe’s biggest advertising billboard.

Property giant Landsec is creating a new consumer identity for its highly visible West End focal point “to build the brand beyond the screen as a multi-channel asset, cultural symbol and global destination”.

This means the Piccadilly Lights —- which has hosted ads from Coca-Cola to Sony, L’Oréal Paris, Hunter, Pandora and Stella McCartney — will become its first outdoor media consumer brand “reinforcing the screen’s reputation as a powerful, living canvas at the heart of cultural Britain.”

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So what can we expect? Forming the façade to Landsec’s new retail, office and residential Lucent W1 development, the landmark’s new identity adopts the distinctive blue of the nearby Piccadilly Underground tube line. 

“A circular, pulse effect, with radial typography, is a metaphor for the ‘beating heart’ of the Lights as a positive force. At its centre is a glow, referencing the incandescent bulbs of past illuminated advertising hoardings,” Landsec tells us.

Derek Manns, Commercial Media Director for Landsec added: “We’re now focused on the next evolution of this unique asset, turning the country’s most famous billboard into a multimedia experience, using social and content to create a powerful new media channel.”

Landsec has appointed Uncommon London to build the digital presence of the Piccadilly Lights, starting with the creation of new channels on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. 

The first phase of social media activity rolls out in partnership with the Mayor of London’s ‘Let’s Do London’ campaign with a chance for Londoners to have their favourite photographs of the capital featured on the Piccadilly Lights.

Over the course of the past 18 months, the Piccadilly Lights has become a global focal point for its community led messaging and cultural partnerships. Historic moments and milestones featuring the Queen’s pandemic message, Captain Sir Tom Moore’s fundraising in support of the NHS and key workers and the NASA Mars landing have all made news headlines around the world. 

Other curated experiences include an ongoing partnership with CIRCA which commissions new work by famous artists including David Hockney, Ai Weiwei and Patti Smith which is displayed on the Piccadilly Lights every evening.