03.12.21
With Nick Street, Creative Director at We Are Fred Creative
Perhaps subconsciously, the property industry can be limited by an undercurrent of understanding that our sector will always benefit from the surplus of demand versus supply. Bluntly, houses can sell themselves based on functionality and location against a price point. We’ve all been witness to an inevitable laissez faire attitude because of this knowledge, and disrupting that thought pattern, that easy route, becomes an individual decision tied up in a host of other personal choices throughout your life. There comes a time when you have to become the change that you want to see.
The partnership of We Are Fred and Lifestory reflects a certain synergy in ideology that is rare to find and ultimately boils down to an unadulterated appreciation and understanding of people. People make up our teams, people live in the homes we create and communicate, people interact with our separate and yet deeply connected brands. Naturally, it’s easy to make these sweeping statements - going against the grain can be thrown around as a buzzword for all sorts of self-serving marketing activities that gradually dissolve when they don’t instantly draw in financial reward. Curating and harnessing something authentic costs time and genuine passion for a project, for the communities that a development can impact, the emotional involvement of communicating someone’s future home. We Are Fred was given the opportunity to brand its home city in our second year of business in reflection of that sentiment - an address we’re proud of; the only local thing about us. There’s a deep humility in a work culture grounded by this authenticity, and it's this humane truth that allows us to produce results without needing to check in with industry trends.
Success can be determined by a variety of factors, and some are more humble than others. Speaking for both Lifestory and We Are Fred, the most genuine result to celebrate in our industry is the ability to engage with people’s consciousness. Not many actors in the sector can do it, and even fewer do it because they genuinely want to. Our authenticity is evidenced in our joint collaboration for the Life Chapters campaign - a body of work that although incorporates an intelligent, thought-provoking concept of advertising, also diverts right back to the root of both of our businesses’ ethos: personal realism that can provide an emotional connection through storytelling. The ongoing Life Chapters campaign is a labour of love that the interconnected team, both at Fred and Lifestory, are proud of because it’s humanely differentiable, creatively encompassing everything that we stand for.
In five years, We Are Fred has grown beyond belief and there’s humble pride in the knowledge that “he” has gained each of our now shared skill sets: a separate entity entirely dedicated to the best of each of us; We Are Fred. Moreover, a business’ ability to resonate with others, be it clients or a public audience, is a connection forged by your team members, the face of your brand and your business. Therefore, team culture must take precedence over ego. Yet a collective hunger will enable your business to thrive, innovate and become pioneers in an industry that once needed to be reinvigorated by people who seek to add holistic value, not just increase profit margins. It's this collaborative sentiment that has allowed us to become the authentic creative partners we are today.
Mirroring the essence of an eclectic binuclear family, we are an extension of Lifestory’s team. Our intricately entrusted relationship was built into an unbreakable bond bound by a mutual desire for impeccable service, grown from the foundations of a natural chemistry between a body of people who are driven by creativity and flair. Together, we have become leaders in a new wave of communicating property - authentically expressive and artistically honest. The mutual goal isn’t to be the biggest, but to be the best, and to redefine what it means to be the best in an industry often anchored by aggressive competition and delivery of optimal financial results. To understand that concept, you have to look closer to home, you have to look to the members of your team: where the true investment of any business lies. Your team is where your brand’s flexibility and agility is enabled, your adaptability to evolve with the turning tides of any sector; together, you are a pooled resource of experience, personality and passion for the job at hand. With the right people in your team, extended or otherwise, you become the change you want to see - without even realising.