We just received an update from Michael Coyle of Replay Resorts with a 5-page update on the Loreto Bay development. A lot of homeowner’s over the past few weeks have been wondering about the status of the project, especially given the current economic crisis and the news that Citi is looking for a buyer (you can view a previous blog post on this topic here).

The key takeaways are:

• the development is on track
• a marketing campaign is kicking off to promote not only Loreto Bay, but the region
• construction has slowed, but this is consistent with the overall business principles of cash-in = cash-out
• the paseo renovation continues
• the beach club, called “Cortez Explorers’ Club”, is officially launching
• a new Loreto web site launches tomorrow (OCT. 1) at loretobay.com
• this communication marks the first us of the new logo and branding

So far so good.

We believe Michael Coyle and The Replay team are remaining consistent to their original plan. Remember the first phase focused on correcting mistakes under previous management, reducing costs, and consolidating for operational efficiency (see our previous blog post on this phase).

This next phase is about re-branding the whole development (while staying true to sustainability as a differentiator), ramping sales & marketing once again and meeting previous commitments around construction and contracts.

This satisfies us for now, although we hope the updates continue on a regular basis. Short of providing a full disclosure on their financials such as balance sheet, P&L, etc. (and being a private company that won’t happen) I suspect this is as much as we can fairly expect.

I agree with Coyle when he suggests this will probably raise even more questions, and it makes sense to combine the answers to all of these into regular communications, rather than one-off replies. It’s more efficient.

Curiously absent was any mention of Citibank and the potential sale of the development to a new buyer. Obviously given the state of the US banking and financial systems, this is perhaps the number one issue on the minds of lot of homeowners and investors.

New Brand Identity and Logo

Back in August we mentioned that new logos, branding and marketing campaigns were coming. So we’re excited to see how this all looks.

New whale tail design element.

Nice use of two tone color theme.

The new Loreto Bay logo.

I was skeptical when I heard about a new logo and brand identity as I really liked the previous one (some early logo proofs we saw had a terrible 80s Miami Vice look!).

This new logo though is great. I’m scoring this one an “A“. Not only does it have a classy up-scale look, but it also incorporates the Sea of Cortez elements nicely. It reminds me of an outdoorsy version of the Four Seasons look and feel. Nice job.

Clinton Stark

Clint writes about new media, arts, wine, indie film, and tech (including his trusty Droid). An aging ice hockey player, he tries in vain to direct Loni in SSC videos. He's held executive marketing roles at tech companies including Cisco, EMC and Salesforce.com. Originally from Ottawa, Canada, he now lives in Silicon Valley. More »

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