What's old is new for one of Canada's leading real estate companies.
Elad Canada has officially rebranded to Almadev, unveiling a new brand identity that includes a reimagined logo, typology, iconography, and colour palette.
The rebrand is reflective of the business's evolution over the past 20 years, says the company. Through the years, Elad has built a strong reputation in income-producing properties and developing celebrated master-planned communities in Canada and the United States. But it was time to change things up with a refreshed look and feel.
"Over the past decades, our company has experienced tremendous growth and we have honed an exceptional expertise in asset management and developing master-planned communities. It was time to create a new identity that reflects who we are today," says Rafael Lazer, CEO of Almadev. "We're thrilled to embark on this new chapter; Almadev perfectly encapsulates our unique ethos around real estate, and it represents our drive to continuously improve and push ourselves in new directions."
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Lazer drew upon the expertise of Toronto-based advertising and branding agency Channel 13 to help with the rebrand.
“They needed an identity that encapsulates their unique ethos around real estate, and one that represents their drive to continuously improve and push themselves in new directions,” says Michael Gioffre, creative director and partner at Channel 13.
“The inspiration behind the rebrand was a deep dive of discovering who Elad was and how they continue to add value to the communities they have their hand in,” says Gioffre. “As they have grown over the past decades, they were challenged with identifying a new company name that speaks to their global approach to real estate and the soul they inject into every community. Although their name was changing, nothing about the company’s corporate structure or staff was changing. It was the same great Elad team with a new name.”
As the company went through their internal brainstorming processes, they landed on the word ‘Alma’ which means ‘world’ in Aramaic and ‘soul’ in Spanish. “It’s a word that lends itself perfectly to their worldly and soulful approach,” says Gioffre. “’Dev’ was then added as a literary term, which compounded the two words, and Almadev was then born.
For Channel 13, their challenge as the selected branding team was to create an identity that reflected this massive -- yet simple transition. “Sometimes, the simplest branding briefs lend themselves to being the toughest challenge and sometimes a name change can have a negative effect,” says Gioffre. “Our creative team went through countless internal iterations prior to us landing on the new identity you see today.”
The inspiration for the visual identity was derived from the dual word meaning of the word Alma, says Gioffre. “We wanted to create an identity that visually felt global, but contemporary enough to communicate the energy it brings to their communities,” says Gioffre. “The outcome was a beautifully crafted logotype and logomark. The logomark is a perfect combination of the two letters ‘AD,’ with an emphasis on the ‘A’ being the primary subject in the mark.”
Along with the visual identity, Channel 13 worked with the team to come up with an introductory slogan. “’The New Elad -- New Name, Same Soul’ reinforces that this change is a positive step forward in Almadev’s legacy,” says Gioffre. While the real estate company may have a new name and logo, there will be no changes to "business as usual" in terms of operations at Almadev. “You can just expect more,” says Gioffre.
Almadev is currently developing master-planned community Galleria on the Park at Dupont and Dufferin. They have also recently announced the closing of Emerald City, its 35-acre master-planned community in North York. Further, Almadev is gearing up to launch at Lansing Square, a 15-acre master-planned community located at Sheppard Ave. and Victoria Park. Last month, the company acquired a well-connected 11.6-acre site in Vaughan, adjacent to the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre.
“And I’m sure they aren’t stopping there,” says Gioffre.
Cover image:Galleria on the Park (Almadev)
This article was produced in partnership with STOREYS Custom Studio.
