Olé Generation 2 is a unifying and momentum building brand evolution of the single most important upscale supermarket brand in China, Olé.
 
In late 2004 China Resources Vanguard established the first upscale supermarket in China, Olé.  The initial launch location of Olé was in the newly developed Mixc Shopping Center at City Crossing in the affluent southern city of Shenzhen.
 
It was anticipated that this new to the market/first mover format would be well ahead of the market in all aspects of operation, merchandise assortment and customer service and was not expected to be profitable in the first year.
 
The second year of operation proved the concept viable as traffic and sales performance exceeded expectation. However there was no real expansion provision as Olé were initially envisioned to be within China Resources Developments and the Mixc developments were carefully considered regional shopping center and mix use developments that were to be located only in very specific locations.  Olé would of course occupy these locations however it would be years and many hundreds or thousands of miles between each Mixc location.
 
The well deserved buzz that Olé created was in fact China wide and in many instances Olé became the single most significant supermarket in China.  This attention only compounded the difficulty and importance of regaining the initial momentum with opening of more stores.
 
In 2005 CRV opened another new to the market/first mover format, Olé Lifestyle Center. Rationalized as sharing core synergies but with different demographics in terms of customer base, location, assortment and price structure the shared name created confusion in the market.
 
This market confusion was further compounded by the premature canceling of the Olé Lifestyle format and Olé supermarket being implemented by other regional divisions of CRV without the same level of discipline held in the original flagship location.
 
Finally the market and CRV conditions were right to regain the momentum and realign the brand objectives with the creation of Olé Generation 2.
 
The initial Olé location was primarily a design lead experience as the merchandise programs that were envisioned as key components of the trade up differentiation position took some time to develop and were not completely sourced till well after the opening of the store. 
 
As Olé G2 would be a growth format for CRV it simply had to be easy to replicate therefore, construction time to implement and budget to implement had to become more realistic across a variety of locations and tenant configurations.
 
Most importantly Olé would need to be a merchandise and customer service lead experience with design assuming a secondary role.  Therefore the design concept took on more of an umbrella approach
 
With a variety of Olé formats being implemented without consistency it was suggested by rkd that it was time to refine the Olé logo to energize brand and signal a period of consistency and discipline.
 
The entire concept was reevaluated from the merchandise level out.  New categories combine to further enhance the lifestyle and upmarket positioning that differentiates Olé.
 
rkd retail/iQ was responsible for the strategic brief, all creative expressions, name generation, brand and environmental graphic programs and retail planning + design and construction documentation.  Olé G2 is currently being implemented in key locations in Beijing, Shenzhen and Hong Kong.