The idea behind "Making a Neighborhood" was to build a hero campaign that reaffirmed Swire Properties’ position as a real estate leader and the driving force behind the evolution of Miami’s Brickell neighborhood. While the documentary-style hero video served as the centerpiece, the campaign was designed to extend beyond a single asset. It became a year-long social and digital narrative that consistently reinforced Swire’s legacy, values, and long-term commitment to Miami.
With the launch of The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Miami and the continued success of Brickell City Centre, our core objective was to elevate brand awareness by telling a cohesive, compelling story that demonstrates how nearly five decades of purposeful development shaped Brickell into a global destination and how Swire continues to define its future.
Anchored in real interviews, historical archives, and dynamic visual storytelling, the campaign aimed to educate audiences, strengthen brand recall, and position Swire as a pillar of the community and a catalyst for urban transformation. But its impact grew as we extended the narrative across social channels throughout the year: spotlighting community voices, celebrating Brickell’s history, and giving a more human, approachable dimension to the brand.
Across social, digital, and paid placements, the campaign reached new audiences, re-engaged existing ones, and sparked renewed appreciation for Swire’s role in Miami’s growth. Ultimately, it served multiple strategic goals: driving awareness, deepening recognition, and offering a narrative that connected past, present, and future to show how Swire has truly shaped the neighborhood into what it is today.
To bring this project to life, we developed a structured, multi-phase approach that balanced strategic clarity with creative storytelling. We began by immersing ourselves in Swire Properties’ almost-50-year legacy in Miami to shape the overarching concept: a documentary-style narrative that visually shows how the company transformed Brickell into the vibrant neighborhood it is today. From this, we drafted the core strategy and concept, then moved into storyboarding to establish pacing, chapter flow, and visual direction. The script was developed in parallel, undergoing multiple refinements with the client to ensure historical accuracy, brand alignment, and an authentic tone.
With the foundation set, we shifted into intensive planning. We created a list of interviewees from longtime executives to community voices and developed prompts to surface meaningful stories. We selected filming locations that represented both past and present Brickell and outlined the essential b-roll needed to capture the neighborhood’s evolution. To ground the video in real history, we sourced archival footage and photography, navigating rights and licensing limitations, and secured additional audio assets to support the documentary feel.
Production blended coordination and creativity. Over multiple shoot days, we conducted and filmed four long-form interviews for the hero video and additional interviews for social extensions. Our team captured b-roll of architecture, neighborhood dynamics, and street-level activity. Voiceover recording followed, lending the narrative cohesion. From there, we moved into editing, where we shaped footage to match the storyboard, wove interviews with archival materials, integrated graphics and renders, and refined cuts through several feedback rounds.
Once the hero video was finalized, we began planning our pre- and post-publication strategies. Ahead of launch, we developed six teaser posts to build anticipation and introduce audiences to the campaign’s themes. After release, we rolled out a paid media campaign across Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and programmatic channels to amplify reach and reinforce Swire’s positioning. To support demand in regions with high purchase intent, the campaign was also adapted and amplified across key LATAM markets, translated into Spanish and Portuguese to maximize relevance.
Beyond its initial release, this video also served as the hero piece of a broader yearlong narrative, one designed to re-establish Swire’s legacy and vision during a milestone moment: the presentation of The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Miami. The campaign became the foundation for how the brand reintroduced its long-standing role in shaping Brickell.
A project of this magnitude did not come without challenges. Because the story spans more than four decades, sourcing archival footage was complex, with materials dispersed across institutions. We addressed this through early rights research, working with multiple archival partners, and adapting visuals when assets were unavailable. Tight timelines also required interviews, b-roll, archival sourcing, scripting, and editing to progress in parallel. A structured, multi-lane workflow and clear approval frameworks ensured alignment without sacrificing quality.
Ultimately, the uniqueness of this campaign lies in its blend of rigorous research, documentary craft, and brand storytelling, all with the intent of transforming a decades-long legacy into the foundation of a powerful, defining narrative.
The results of the "Making a Neighborhood" campaign directly aligned with our core objectives of increasing brand awareness, strengthening audience recognition, and positioning Swire Properties as the visionary force behind Brickell’s transformation. Across Instagram and LinkedIn, the campaign generated 3.48 million impressions, more than 9,000 interactions (excluding video views and programmatic results), and 1.76 million video views, all evidence that the content resonated strongly with both existing followers and new audiences. On YouTube, the hero video reached an additional 2 million impressions, earned 1,796 clicks, and accumulated 1.11 million views, significantly expanding visibility across a broader, discovery-driven platform.
Beyond the numbers, the campaign achieved key intangible goals that were equally important to our team. It reframed Swire’s legacy in a contemporary, story-driven format that deepened audience understanding of the brand’s long-standing influence in Miami. The documentary-style approach sparked meaningful conversations online, with viewers organically commenting on the evolution of Brickell and Swire’s role in shaping the neighborhood. Internally, the video became a unifying asset used across presentations, meetings, and partner touchpoints, strengthening alignment around Swire’s identity as a neighborhood maker rather than just a developer.
Most importantly, the campaign created a renewed sense of pride and recognition for Swire’s work, both within the organization and throughout the community. By blending strong performance metrics with narrative impact, we consider this project a success not only for what it achieved numerically, but for how it repositioned the brand in the minds of its audiences.
