APPLE'S FIRST BRAND IN 1976
There are objective markers that indicate when it is time to update or refresh your luxury real estate brand. It is better to refine your brand so that it reflects the evolution of your business rather than reacting to external market conditions.
One of the objective markers is when you embark upon an entirely new strategy or take on when a new niche becomes the focus of your company or professional practice. Three of the companies we are working with are changing their business models. Their existing brands no longer communicate the new direction and focus of the company.
Another marker that indicates that you should refresh your brand is when it no longer stands out, because the copycats have moved in and blurred what makes your brand distinct. While working with a company back East, we noticed an international franchise brand had changed their company colors to copy the market leader.
If you are a market leading company, and a new brand moves into town and starts recruiting your agents and your clients, take that as an objective marker that you should at least consider refreshing your brand. It is easy to become complacent when no one is challenging your market dominance. That is when you are most vulnerable. The new company can label you as stodgy and out of step with the times especially if they position themselves as the new innovators.
When Apple came on the scene they labeled the then market leader Microsoft as the stodgy brand to differentiate themselves as the cutting edge innovators. Certainly, the Apple brand has evolved over time as they surpassed Microsoft and all other tech companies as the most highly valued company in the world.
APPLE'S CURRENT BRAND
This year Apple will move into its new “spaceship” headquarter building and make a statement that will be heard around the globe: We are still on the cutting edge, catch us if you can!”