MUZE

digital marketing student housing case study.

In 2018, the largest student housing management company in the nation partnered with a developer and investment firm to initiate a new development project in one of the nation’s most competitive student housing markets, UT Austin’s West Campus area. They reached out to Threshold and together created MUZE, a new brand offering state-of-the-art housing with artistic ﬂair in the heart of West Campus.

lease rates jumped to

72%

While the rest of the market
averaged only 53.6%

above

99%

Lease rate

the problem to solve

West Campus is one of the nation’s most competitive housing markets, with plenty of competition packed into just a few square miles adjacent to UT’s campus. This new start had to leverage compelling branding to differentiate itself from the sea of other properties in the area and generate plenty of buzz during the pre-lease season to earn high occupancy rates before their opening date.

the dream

Their vision was to create a property brand that would differentiate MUZE from its competition through various advertising campaigns, with emphasis on the unique offerings of the property and its location. They also had ambitions to have the property over 95% leased by its opening date of August 2019.

the strategy

To meet these goals, Threshold created a unique, compelling branding and competitive marketing strategy.

Branding

With so many properties already competing in the West Campus market, this new brand needed to be unique, eye-catching, and inspiring. This need drove the creative process from the very beginning, and it’s no wonder that the name MUZE was chosen early on to solve for that need; the name itself represented the creative spark necessary to stand out among the crowd and build something new. It also captured a vibrant energy that would speak to the target audience of UT Austin undergraduate students who live within a city known for its artists and innovators. Along with the name came a logo, then a tagline to match—”Reimagined student living”—and the brand was born. These elements inspired a vibrant, signature design direction featuring colorful paint swirls, bold typefaces, and saturated hues that would make both digital and material elements pop as the MUZE teams extended the brand into all marketing and design applications.

Lease Space Design

Threshold’s creative team designed vibrant wall art leveraging colorful overlays, cheerful lifestyle photography, stunning property photos and renderings, and attractive amenities lists highlighting the unique advantages of the MUZE community. Floor plans were also featured on acrylic boards with saturated color block backgrounds, while a logo wall and location map called attention to the brand name and the property’s fantastic location just two blocks from campus.

Web Development

It was essential that MUZE launch a full website optimized for both SEO and UX, especially in order to reach a student audience that performs much of its housing search online. In order to capture and nurture online leads, a conversion-optimized landing page was also created.

Print & Digital Collateral

The lease space and on-site staff were also outﬁtted with branded business cards, brochures, ﬂyers, stationery, email templates, and other signage and illustrations so that no detail was out of place. These ﬁnishing touches would help leasing staff make a lasting impression on potential residents and ensure that the brand experience was coherent and impactful at every single touchpoint of the leasing journey.

Together with Threshold, the client leveraged the strong branding and assets we built together to achieve some truly remarkable results. During the leasing cycle from August 2018 to August 2019, MUZE earned steady traffic, both on-foot and online. The website saw over 152,000 users and over 517,000 sessions while on-site staff were busy with a steady stream of tours, calls, and emails from interested UT students. More importantly, this traffic converted, leading to lease rates over and above the market average for the West Campus area.

Almost a full year out from their August 2019 opening, MUZE was already 42% pre-leased, while the rest of the market averaged out at 27.4% pre-leased. Just one month later, in October 2018, MUZE’s lease rates had jumped to 72%, while the rest of the market averaged only 53.6%. This above-market trend continued month over month all the way through to the August 2019 opening, which MUZE greeted with a lease rate above 99%.

pre-leased

42%

One year prior to opening
Compared to a market
average of 27.4% pre-lease

website visitors

20.45

With conversions leading to
a lease rate above 99% upon
opening in august 2019.

CONTACT

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