Coutts is a 330-year-old private bank. Its brand rests on discretion, quality and a relationship with wealth that goes beyond the transactional. Establishing a garden above its Strand headquarters, growing saffron, wasabi and Chilean guava for its own restaurant is more than simple horticulture.
Designhouse CEO Lavinia Culverhouse recently visited the Skyline Garden for a private tour, and it is hard to miss what Coutts is doing here. The garden yields fresh produce directly for the bank’s hospitality offering. It also hosts client events and workshops. And it sits, quite literally, above one of London’s most recognisable financial addresses. Every choice, from the global varieties grown to the sustainability credentials, reinforces the brand. Coutts wants its clients to feel the values of the institution. Considered. Unhurried. Rooted in something real.
For those of us working in strategic brand design, it is a useful reminder that the most compelling brand expressions are rarely the ones that announce themselves loudest. A rooftop garden is not a logo or a campaign. But it communicates values, provenance and a particular idea of excellence in a way that a tagline rarely can.
The brands that endure tend to be the ones that find ways to make their values tangible, experiential and consistent across every touchpoint, including the ones nobody would think to call branding at all.
Designhouse has partnered with FTSE 250 companies and global enterprises for over 50 years, delivering strategic brand consultancy that creates measurable competitive advantage. If you’d like to discuss your brand challenges, we’d be glad to talk.