Skyloft

Location: Austin, Texas

University: University of Texas at Austin

The Challenge

Campus Advantage was hired in February 2017 to complete the initial lease-up of a high-profile, new student housing development in Austin, Texas. The 18-story, 674-bed property is located in West Campus, serving the University of Texas. Skyloft was opening at the same time as two other new developments, so the brand needed to differentiate the project to attract UT students.

The Solution

Catalyst, Campus Advantage’s marketing partner, was engaged to establish the branding for the asset and assist with creating strategic digital marketing strategies to set the development apart within the competitive University of Texas market. The final branding featured sleek lines, a blue and teal gradient, and bright pops of orange and yellow. Creative for Skyloft branding included naming, a tagline, a logo, a brand guide, a paper system, a marketing brochure, a temporary website, a full website, a sales sheet, social media collateral, multiple ad placements, email campaigns, leasing space signage, and more.

Campus Advantage and Catalyst worked together in the planning and execution of a brand reveal and launch party, which led to a high number of attendees and market buzz. Additional marketing and leasing efforts included establishing a marketing street team, initiating an online VIP list to create excitement before kicking off leasing, and securing a competitive temporary leasing space. The property emphasized guerrilla marketing efforts coupled with unique, aggressive digital strategies, including search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), and social media marketing (SMM), to drive leads to the property during the initial key leasing months.

The Results

The combined branding and marketing efforts led to the development being 100% pre-leased before opening in fall 2018. Within a seven-month time frame, Skyloft secured 650 leases — many of which were captured through the website Catalyst designed to assist in the strong pre-leasing effort. The top-performing SMM campaign utilized a meme approach that promoted luxury amenities of the new property, which produced impressive results — 21,007 impressions, 10,711 targeted users reached, 214 likes, 37 post shares, and 617 ad clicks.

Campus Advantage continued to provide property management services until Skyloft sold in 2019, which included oversight of property operations, marketing and leasing campaigns, creation of annual budgets and management plans, and delivery of the Students First® Experience residence life program.

• 
• 
• 
•