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I walked through the sage and grassland of a magnificent peninsula overlooking Okanagan Lake one frosty fall morning with developer Leona Snider. She had been in love with this land for years. Now she had the opportunity to create a resort here. A resort that would be environmentally responsible, preserving a third of the area in its natural state, using reclaimed waste water for all irrigation, and geothermal systems to heat and cool all homes. It would feature a Fred Couples Signature golf course, an organic winery and underground tasting caves, and offer homesites, duplexes, hotel and condominium properties. She wanted to give it an identity worthy of all it would have to offer.
I used a process that drew from the knowledge and experience of the people working on the development. Through a series of excercises both on the land and in the boardroom, we boiled down the vision, values and key messages that would represent the future of the resort. This was condensed into a document which formed the creative briefing for the naming process. In the end, the name and positioning became almost minimal.
The Rise. Symbolizing location, aspiration, nature and exemplary quality. A term equally applicable to a golf shot, a growing vine, the mist over the lake or the moon on a summer night.
Sometimes less really is more.