Having created the original, pre-construction marketing in 2005 for the 420-unit CityPlace South Tower in West Palm Beach, LGD has been retained once again to reintroduce the building, now finished, to a vastly different market.

As Agency of Record, LGD joins sales and marketing experts RCRS to bring CityPlace South Tower to market and secure the greatest possible return for the Scotia Bank–led consortium which now owns the asset.

CityPlace South Tower condominium, West Palm Beach

This week, high-profile condominium properties in each of the Tri-Counties selected LGD to help steer them back into the market after the extended doldrums of the economic downturn. With prices on new, luxury units lower than they’ve been in years and the Fed still holding back on raising the prime, buyers are starting to appear. At Marina Grande in Riviera Beach, Ft. Lauderdale’s Sapphire Condominiums and Peninsula II in Aventura, the sales effort has been reignited, but in a very different world than the pre-construction bonanza of the recent past. LGD is already shaping the conversation that will lead to new contracts signed in the finest South Florida properties.

A core strategy espoused by LGD’s popular It campaign is that a recession silencing so much competition is the perfect time for strong companies to gain market share - at a fraction of the cost. Incidentally, Sol Melia - the parent company of two LGD hospitality clients, Gran Melia and ME by Melia - announced today their plans to invest $132 million into new hotels and resorts in 2009.

From Reuters… Spain’s leading hotel chain Sol Melia will invest 100 million euros ($132.4 million) this year and will focus spending on its luxury brands as the economic crisis buffets the tourist industry, the company said on Wednesday.

“We are fully aware of the delicate moment … that the tourist sector is going through, especially in Spain,” said Chief Executive Sebastian Escarrer. “We have to invest so that when we come out of this crisis we are in a good position to keep at an international level.”

This year’s openings include a spectacular Mediterranean resort, Gran Melia Crete, and a new urban skyscraper, Gran Melia Shaghai. LGD Communications is agency of record for every Gran Melia, and has already developed exquisite creative for each property - from new bar and restuarant brands to a range of hospitality materials.

LGD’s foremost clients - Gran Melia and ME by Melia, two hotel & resort brands operated by the Spanish hospitality giant Sol Melia - ran very special full-page ads in this year’s Art Basel Miami Beach Magazine. ABMB Mag is the official publication of the world-famous art fair, and a major annual venue for luxury brands.

The Gran Melia ad is on a stiff, plastic-like stock that readers couldn’t help but flip to. Its pearl sheen gave the insert a luxurious feel, while the ME by Melia ad utilized velvety paper and special metallic ink. This combination of sensually tactile media and flashy type was a show-stopper, and reflects the brand’s young, sexy image.

Both ads were produced by LGD and are among the agency’s finest print products of 2008.

© 2008 LGD Communications, Inc.

Daniel Borst and Renee Fernandini, Art Directors; Chris McCauley, Copywriter