How Research, Product Design and Brand Helped Launch JLL’s Innovative Product

JLL is a commercial real estate services firm with over 300 offices worldwide. As an established business, JLL knows what has worked for them over the years.

While the Indy JLL location was thriving, clients needed a tool to think outside the box and celebrate innovation. Matt Waggoner, Managing Director, saw an opportunity to elevate the workspace conversation in the commercial real estate industry, and he set out to create the solution.

Problem

Matt wanted to elevate workspace innovation, but he didn’t know how. He recognized that people often saw workspace as a cost, but if given proper attention, it could be a business asset.

Imagine a place where clients, businesses and design enthusiasts can explore workspaces and find inspiration for their own workspace — Spaces makes this a reality.

After creating the first version of the Spaces website, a design innovation community formed. This proved to JLL that there was passion for workspace innovation, as well as a community of people who wanted to share ideas about it. JLL came to Innovatemap to understand the market landscape, take Spaces to the next level, and make it valuable for users.

Solution

To understand JLL’s opportunity with Spaces, we started with research. We interviewed and gained insights from potential users, JLL employees, and other successful online communities.

After research, the product management and JLL team aligned on a vision: Spaces would be an online platform for people in interior design and real estate to showcase, collaborate, share ideas, and browse innovative workspaces. Additionally, Spaces would be the hub of inspiration for companies to display and achieve unique workspace design and attract top talent.

To socialize the vision with JLL leadership, we developed a vision deck and concept screens. This was an important step towards unifying the team around a central vision and determining next steps for a successful initiative.

After pitching, getting feedback, iterating on the product, and painting the vision for Spaces, Matt earned buy-in for the Spaces platform.

To bring the vision to life, we designed the Spaces product and created a cohesive brand identity. A comprehensive brand enablement guide equipped the entire organization with the tools needed to promote and grow this new product.

Takeaways

Together, we created a thought-leadership initiative, knowing that the workspace conversation was evolving. JLL wanted to equip users with the inspiration and resources to achieve their dream workspaces.

By exploring the impact of digital innovation on their core business, JLL established themselves as the resource for workspace design and have transformed from a real estate company to innovative and tech-enabled.

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See our work with JLL