Track2Realty Exclusive: Persona stands for the third P and it is something that has been all elusive in the real estate. The persona of a luxury brand is largely a consequence of distinctive projection and coherence of the application. The visual brand identity captures the brand’s personality, mystique & emotional values in a nutshell.
The distinct and consistent expression of the identity (by way of its logo, the colour(s) association, the other design elements like icons, the uniquely identifiable ergonomics or branded environment, etc.) is central to establishing the visibility, familiarity & common identifiable brand imagery. For example, the Louis Vuitton monogram & graphic symbols.
While the brands visual identity is a fairly stable factor, advertising is the most dynamic marketing vehicle and hence is critical in developing aspirational context.
At an overall level, luxury advertising messages can be observed as more emotional and sensual to distance it from mass-premium brands, something that creates a world in its own and an aura that is truly exceptional to their brand signature and generate major differentiation in its production and execution. It has to be extremely selective and niche media.
Sadly, in real estate branding is never done by R&D (Research & Development). Logo does not stand to the company’s core objectives & the said philosophy, or worse even, it can be changed overnight at the whims and fancies of the promoter.
Creative guys are reluctant to work with a sector where some of the companies have actually gone to the extent of repetitively changing the name of the company itself, as suggested by some astrologers. In advertising elevation stands out with foreign models, over promising yet clichéd offerings, but the message is yet not clear.
The fourth P is something which is at the top of the agenda of all the real estate companies—Public Relations (PR). But unlike realty, PR in luxury branding plays an enormous role in image proliferation of the brand, thereby subtly influencing public opinion.
It is also employed to convey other supporting messages and attributes of the brand which cannot be explicitly captured in advertising, but by no means are less important to create brand’s personality, mystique and emotional values. For instance, some companies the world over have organised familiarisation programme/trip for journalists to have a feel of the product.
It is also a sophisticated branding machine for maintaining ongoing relevance with the luxury consumer, especially so in fashion and seasonal trends driven categories. Generation of brand news, story angles, speaking points of inspirers (like what celeb’s speak or wear) and of influencers (like the designer speak) blended with innovative event concepts (like the fashion weeks, polo matches, themed previews) are utilized for tactical brand exposure made relevant to industry trends & culture.
In Indian real estate PR stands for ‘free publicity’ which in terms of message is no different from advertising. Free of cost advertising (with meagre budget for being in news) is called PR. Promoting the promoter as the ‘real(ty) think tank’ is in many cases the main mandate.
And yes, poor PR guys have to convince, confuse or corrupt the journalists to achieve the objective which also includes no negative news about the company. Familiarisation with the product is often confined over a few drinks where the poor PR guys have no ‘extra’ info other than the approved press releases.
…to be continued
