An analysis on branding within the real estate industry

Abstract

This thesis is an analysis of the current branding landscape within the real estate industry. It focuses specifically on real estate owner/operators, and excludes the hotels, motel, and brokerage sectors. It seeks to identify the best practices of the most successful brands in the industry, and develops a real estate industry branding model based on those best practices. Both internal alignment and community recognition are incorporated into this model. Also, it investigates general trends and potential branding effectiveness by asset class. The thesis includes a general discussion of the current real estate branding state, as well as an analysis of the current branding strategies and practices of some of the leading real estate brands, including Del Webb, Post Properties, the Irvine Company, KB Home, the Mills, AMB, Parkway Properties, Camden Properties, Archstone-Smith and Simon. Where possible, the value of brand equity is measured and quantified, and compared to its peer group, and the results are analyzed and discussed.