Voyage Design - Celebrating Creative Bravery

• Pages from the VIP brochure

• Hoarding created for retail units

• St Pancras people from the VIP brochure

• Additional materials

• Christmas card detail

Portfolio / St Pancras

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The task...

Altering the mindset of 140 years wasn’t going to be easy. To most people, St Pancras is where trains arrive from, and set off to, the East Midlands and Yorkshire. However St Pancras has so much more to offer.

With commercial space available for services, retail and hospitality, it has something for everyone. It needed an identity to bring it alive and get the most from its national profile. It needed effective communication to inform high-end stores of the advantages of taking retail space at St Pancras, and to invite the public to make it a ‘destination’. 

Why shouldn’t it be a place to be seen at? After all, here was our Grand Central Station.

The way forward...

We were seeking to grab the attention of key stakeholders at exclusive, eclectic brands with a continental flavour, as well as the general public. With an audience this diverse, the campaign had to be effective on many levels.

What’s more, St Pancras, naturally, is used to efficient timekeeping. And deadlines were tight.

Although St Pancras had a crafted logo produced by Lewis Moberly and the evocative “Meet me at St Pancras” brand story by Tony Hodges, LCR decided to go out to tender for the brand roll out. Rather nervously we accepted our invitation to pitch against what we were told were 4 large London agencies. Sleepless nights and bitten fingernails ensued; our submission was delivered. And a week later we had a surprising phone call, telling us we had won. Disbelief and wonderment.

The design work had to convey the essence of St Pancras past and future, as a place of both history and humanity. Somewhere people gather. A destination.

With 60 retail outlets in various stages of readiness, the question also arose of how to neatly present the new zone at the time of its opening by The Queen. What better way than to produce vinyl window graphics for each store front to offer a flavour of the retailer brand behind them.

The store window fit out happened two weeks before public launch in October 2007.

A year before public launch, Project Blue Moon oversaw the physical brand roll out at the station, including the development of stakeholder materials. We also produced event literature and merchandise for the MAPIC international development exhibition for real estate in Cannes.

To introduce the station as a place where people can eat, shop and socialise, Tony Hodges ‘Meet me at St Pancras’ brand story was supported by a ‘people’ campaign which bought to life the station through the diversity of individuals that you would meet when you arrived / travelled from the station .

Everything emphasised humanity, life and unique personality - part of the true essence of St Pancras.

The outcome...

At the launch of St Pancras International by The Queen in November 2007, all but one of the retail units were let. That unit was soon taken and St Pancras became a thriving scene of travel, retail and hospitality. 

In addition, St Pancras asked us to produce staff communications materials, interactive information platforms and a stakeholder newsletter.

We helped with monthly support events to boost footfall and educate the public about the various zones around the station - some not highly visible because entranceways were closed off whilst construction work into Kings Cross continued. Additional wayfinding boards were placed strategically to attract / support / raise awareness and iincrease footfall to various zones within the station The Circle had its high street offering with Boots, Monsoon and Yo Sushi etc. The Arcade was boutique eclectic. The Rendezvous was eating and drinking establishments such as Champagne Bar, Searcey’s restaurant and Carluccios.

With so many threads to draw together, St Pancras appreciated a clear line of thought and a build on the human story that held everything in place.

Praise...

In preparing St Pancras International for the Royal Opening by HM The Queen we had the challenge of presenting all our 60 retail units when they were still in various stages of fit out. Voyage came up with an excellent solution by applying high quality vinyl graphics on all shopfronts displaying the retailers logo’s and brand style. For our 3000 guests the superb design enhanced the look of the station and complemented the beautiful architecture. Thank You Voyage

- Mike Luddy, Project Director, LCSP

What we did...