By: Ravi Sinha
Track2Realty Exclusive: As more and more real estate companies are getting bullish over branding in a cut-throat market, adapting to emerging business models and today’s Facebook culture, this survey tried to figure out whether they are being forced to transform their image or is it just a natural evolution of the sector on holistic branding parameters.
Does brand really matters in the business of real estate? If it does, then how much does brand matter for an average home buyer?
Branding is the reason you choose Coke over Pepsi or Pizza Hut over Domino’s and vice versa. But when it comes to buying real estate, how much do brand names matter? As real estate firms across the major cities and micro markets jockey for position in a tough market, the significance of branding is changing rapidly. And hence, Track2Realty looked at the importance of image, of companies & projects, in the altered marketplace.
A section of realty analysts and advertising experts tell us that brand loyalty is becoming less crucial in real estate, as technology grows increasingly sophisticated and consumers can access property listings without any third party’s help. Our take, on the contrary, is that in the absence of direct third party endorsements, brand plays a more powerful role than ever.
Of course, since the average buyer purchases a new home only once or twice in the lifetime, engendering brand loyalty in real estate is tricky. But then, real estate has emerged as the most preferred investment instrument in India and hence a subject of household discussion.
However, there is a school of thought that says big-name brands are no longer important enough to justify the high cost of property. But there are plenty of home buyers on the opposite side of the debate arguing that branding is more important than ever, and is crucial to communicating a firm’s offerings.
For example, Ackruti City, one of the largest realty companies in Mumbai renamed itself a number of times for reasons ranging from supposedly astro advice to image makeover of coming out of slum redevelopment brand.
Now as Hubtown they have the catch 22 situation as to how to rename the existing successful office buildings known as landmark destinations with the name of Ackruti. After all, their nearly all clients, especially existing office space occupiers, say they want to continue with the tag of the previous brand name with which they signed the deal and moved into.
Thus, at some level the brand is critical to express how you conduct your business and present yourself as a company. This is all the more true and also challenging for a realtor who makes a move from one asset class to the other, or from one extreme level of clientele to the other level.
