Unfortunately, I don't think the advertising sites in our industry are helping much at this point. It's not a knock against them — as Allison noted, they're mostly listing services. They primarily serve more as places to post prices and details, not articulate your brand experience. As a basic example, why isn't there an ILS out there that lets the advertiser add a branded background to their ads? I can do this on my company's Twitter page, and that's a free service. In general, I don't think any company should rely on the advertising platform to do the heavy lifting for them when it comes to brand building.

@Allison: I'm still thinking a lot about the auto brands as a comparison. Toyota developed Lexus to reach the luxury buyer, then they created Scion to reach the young hipster. It's smart marketing — segment your message to appeal to a specific demographic.

You're right that there's a cost involved, but I think Eric is proving that, when executed effectively, the customer sees value in the brand and is willing to pay more to be part of it. (Another car comparison: check the price on a new Mini Cooper … owning one is like being part of a club, and people pay handsomely to become a member.)

There's a real opportunity out there for the management company that can pull this off. If that third-party manager can show that people are willing to pay more for the experience they can deliver, that adds major value to that asset. Yes, it's intangible, but it's incredibly valuable. Now that's swagger.

Bell Partners appreciates the shout out in the comments!

I like your idea about maximizing brand building by leveraging the industry's size with our advertising partners to scale ads with our properties' budgets, prospects search habits, and other macro factors that affect the our hopeful resident. You are dead on. Think about it…I believe the best ILSs will be those that can break away from the pack. Screw the marketing romance paragraph and the amenities and features list. Everybody's got 'em. Prospects can remember websites that are uniquely helpful. I will spend some $ on what is uniquely helpful. We want to BE uniquely helpful.

I heard a prospect say the other day…”I went to the [internet listing website] to get the price. I went to the [non-traditional listing media site] to get the personality. I wish I could see both at once.” We then had a discussion about how apartments can have “swagger” (I think this should be the new web 2.0 multifamily word) and not all listing services online can show that under our current formats. I can't wait to see which ILSs can fully execute this strategy and deliver results. I've got my eye on a few for this. So can we convince “them?” I think so. We're on the same team. I think when the consumer's habits are changing we owe it to them to change. I believe for far too long our industry has been, uhh, a little less than “proactive” about this. Agreed?

Energy is where it’s at. Love it.

@Eric,
Good points. I can speak for a few of the larger companies in that branding hasn’t been big in the past. Why? Because there are so many special situations with 3rd party management, owner restrictions, budget obstacles, etc. When you start working in the tens of thousands, branding is something I think most everyone wants to do, but is incredibly difficult because you do not offer a standard product or lifestyle with a variable portfolio. Mike Whaling @30lines and I had this same discussion last week about GM and their strategy. A Buick ain’t no Caddy…but they are all GM. Since most of us larger companies can’t brand those things, we have chosen to brand the experience, the customer service, etc. Either way, it can be costly. Most companies have chosen to stay away, because in some form or fashion, the cost is past along to the resident, which no one wants to do, right?

-Allison Crabtree
Bell Partners

Thank you for the comment. I think it really comes down to the size of the community you are describing. And, not community in the general sense. One example: There is a community of traveling nurse recruiters that would likely be able to answer that question. It's a small community but they have a huge influence in the way of housing nurses across the country. They are appealed to by multifamily brands on a consistent basis thus they would be likely to name one. Another example: Former and existing residents, depending on the specific brand have a high likely hood of being able to name one.

To speak to that point more specifically, I think Essex, Bell Partners, JC Hart, Equity Residential, Avalon Bay and Post just to name a few have done a very good job of focusing on Branding. That is not to leave out Urbane – you have done a great job yourself – through different channels. But despite that effort – ask twenty random people anywhere America to name one multifamily brand and your right – maybe one out of the twenty could do it [my own armchair speculation]. On the other hand ask twenty current or former residents of anyone of the above mentioned brands and I think the number goes way up.

Good feedback – thank you for taking the time.

M

Take a poll multifamily executives, walk around on the street in your local community and take a random poll of say (25) people and ask the simple question, “What Apartment Company comes to mind”