China Resources Vanguard has a problem, their market leading lifestyle supermarket, Ole’ is being courted by too many retail developers throughout the country.  Only a limited amount of the shopping center developments in China are appropriate for Ole’ and yet there were many good tenant spaces that offered significant potential and would be of interest for a CRV operation.

Rather than over extend and risk the Ole’ brand, CRV agreed that it was time to develop a new format that could realize the broader opportunities and keep key new sites within the CRV family.

blt*, an acronym for the China Resources service mark, “better life together” was created as a new to the market format to be rolled out in Hong Kong and tier 1 and tier 2 cities in China.  Although blt* will be brand consistent across both markets, the new segmented format will play different role in each market.

In Hong Kong, blt* will assume a CRC shop (+) position in terms of price and promotion within the consistent environmental design while in China, blt* will follow an Ole’ (-) positioning.  Both positioned formats will share a core range of merchandise and services that will be better than the competition with a clear price message.

Crisp and dramatic architecture was developed around a plan type that presents merchandise categories located to serve a variety of shopping patterns.  From impulse with time pressure for a quick lunch to circulation throughout the entire store for weekly shopping.

rkd retail/iQ was responsible for the strategic brief, all creative expressions: name generation, brand and environmental graphic programs and retail planning + design, construction documentation and is currently rolling out the program across multiple locations in Hong Kong and China.