Homes & Estates

A MODERN EXPRESSION OF LUXURY

BY ALYSON PITARRE

WITH AN EYE TOWARD THE FUTURE, ONE OF REAL ESTATE’S MOST ICONIC BRANDS BOLDLY REMAKES ITS LUXURY MARKETING PROGRAM AND UNVEILS A BRAND-NEW IDENTITY.

V ersace. Aston Martin. Tiffany. The com- mon thread between all of these brands? Staying power. They have all dared to adapt, to refine the picture of who they are and to lead by continually raising the bar for future generations. Leadership in luxury real estate does not come easy. Globalization and new technologies have continued to challenge the status quo at the highest price points, while competition has grown even fiercer as the luxury residential sector led the recovery from the Great Recession. In the battle for market share, where new players are entering the picture and existing competitors are continually jockeying for position, a leader always has the most to lose. The Coldwell Banker ® brand legacy in luxury has followed a long path of evolution. What began as a real estate startup in San Francisco’s Financial District in 1906 has become a globally recognized brand, with over 3,000 offices in 49 countries and territories. Leadership in the high-end sector led to the 1980 acquisition of the Previews ® program — a prestigious luxury real estate marketing platform with a tradition dating back to 1933. The program evolved once again this month, becoming known as the Coldwell Banker Global Luxury sm program. “The bottom line is, our network is a leader in luxury real estate sales,” says Charlie Young, president and CEO of Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. “The reason we have stayed at the top of our game for so

long is because we have agility. We are constantly observing and anticipating the changing desires of the modern-day affluent client — so we can respond and adapt quickly.”

His belief was reinforced by a consumer study the brand conducted in June 2014. Surveying 665 high-net-worth consumers, the study found that they identified Coldwell Banker by name as a top luxury real estate brand. “We weren’t surprised,” says Blankenship. “The question was, how do we build on the intrinsic strengths of our brand — which have already sus- tained us for over a century — and create a modern expression of luxury real estate?” The answer would take Blankenship and his marketing team on an ambitious two-year journey to reinvent the Previews platform. They commissioned a San Francisco-based branding agency to begin developing concepts. They created four focus groups, made up of over 20 key stakeholders around the world. For nearly eight months, they tested logos and names with these groups, working backwards from the brand’s core values — trust, innovation, collaboration, consumer focus and business acumen. Finally, in July 2016, they settled on a new identity —Coldwell Banker Global Luxury — and proudly presented it to over 50 top brokers at the annual Chairman’s Circle event in Park City, Utah. “The name is simple, memorable and tells affluent consumers everything they need to know about our brand,” says Hogan. “It communicates the power and strength of the Coldwell Banker Journey to a 360° Marketing Approach

Searching for the Future

In 2014, the Coldwell Banker brand reached a pivotal point with the Previews program. Designated to represent the top 10 percent of every market, the elite program had a unique pedigree and an 80-year tradition of catering to a high-net-worth audience, thanks to an entrepreneur who revolutionized real estate marketing to capture prized estates on film. The program’s success was well documented, associated with the marketing and sale of history’s most iconic homes, including Ronald Reagan’s estate, Versace Manor, Spelling Manor, the Playboy Mansion and Aspen’s Jigsaw Ranch — but consumers were not connecting the program with the Coldwell Banker name. The brand’s leadership — which included Sean Blankenship, chief marketing officer of Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC, and Craig Hogan, vice president of luxury — viewed all of these dynamics as an opportunity to evolve and stay true to the brand’s pioneering spirit. “We needed to unite under one name and tell one story with one image, all rooted in the brand’s history of looking toward the future,” explains Blankenship. “We also wanted to make a powerful global statement that people understood.”

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