BRANDING TAKES OVER BUILDING RECYCLERS

LOS ANGELES — As Los Angeles' worsening land shortage spawns a growing need to recycle old buildings, the concepts of branding and repositioning will become key marketing factors. So said real estate public relations veteran Richard N. Lewis in a speech to the Building Owners and Managers Association.

Though a relatively new concept in real estate, branding has picked up speed as old buildings get transformed into new uses or renovated to bring them into the cyberspace age, Lewis said. Case in point: After Kearny Real Estate purchased and renovated a 120,000-square-foot office building in El Segundo with the nopizzazz name of 1700 Walnut Ave., Lewis & Associates and the Seeley Co. brokerage firm worked together to reposition the property as a high-tech building, emphasizing the fiber optics and other technological amenities Kearny put in. The effort helped take the building, now dubbed e.tech center, from 20 percent vacancy to 95 percent occupancy.

The ultimate goal of branding in real estate is to create an image of a project that is so compelling that it becomes top-of-mind, said Lewis. "Being top-of-mind when it comes to making the buying [or leasing] decision –– that's what branding is ultimately all about."

The PR professional shared his "five Lewis laws of real estate branding": Clearly envision the market you wish to cultivate, before a cent is spent on brochures or other promotional literature; Select a name that is distinctive, easy to pronounce and, if feasible, linked to location; Develop a single central message that is sharply focused on your market and repeat it endlessly; Maintain thematic and graphic continuity in all of your marketing communications; Be prepared to protect your brand in time of crisis.

To be successful, Lewis said, a brand must be buttressed through consistency and constant reinforcement. "About the time you and your colleagues are getting sick and tired of reading and hearing this message," he said, "is about when the marketplace is just beginning to receive your message."

Originally published in California Real Estate Journal, April 2000.