Brand Vaughan’s brand new brand

A new concept in the marketing of properties takes Brand Vaughan Estate Agents to new heights in 2012

Many an estate agent comes to us here at Latest Homes with news of their new rebrand, invariably a pleasing modernisation of their logo, typeface and colours. Kemp Town estate agency Brand Vaughan has gone a good deal further in their rebrand, launched earlier this month.

Yes, there’s a new colour-scheme, logo and even a new ‘message’ (more on this later) but underpinning all of this are some interesting changes to the service they offer their customers.

2011 was a big year for Brand Vaughan. According to Primelocation.com, Brand Vaughan’s office in Kemp Town sold more properties than any other office in Brighton. And they finished 2011 being shortlisted as the best single office in the prestigious Sunday Times Property Awards – the only local agent to be included. They also managed to achieve 95.5 per cent of asking prices on the properties they sold.

Not wishing to rest on their laurels – and to ensure they win gold in 2012 – the company re-engineered their whole service, starting with the employment of two professional copywriters to write about each and every new instruction with a flair and alacrity rarely seen.

“Brand Vaughan’s office in Kemp Town sold more property than any other in Brighton”

Jason Brand, director, explains, “We wanted to do away with property descriptions that are loved by agents but loathed by buyers, and instead develop a style of copy that would engage with people, by describing properties in a way that genuinely brings them to life, inspires buyers, and helps buyers visualise themselves living there.”

As part of this commitment to more enlightening descriptions, the copywriting actually highlights anything about the property that buyers might see as a negative, allowing them to tackle the objection head-on (“yes, it is on a busy road, but it means you get a lot more property for your money”) before the applicant has a chance to de-shortlist the property. “We’ve introduced it recently, and it’s been very popular with buyers and sellers alike” says director David Vaughan.

“We’ve also got our writers putting together little two-word descriptions of each property, a little headline to catch the eye in print, in our window, and online.”

But the changes are not limited to the introduction of great writing. Excellent photography, professionally designed property details, floorplans with every property, and descriptions of the area are also being rolled out on all new instructions.

Naturally, the website has been completely revamped too. Again featuring the copywriters’ handiwork on all new instructions, the site also has giant photographs of each property. It also allows people to search for a property according to its map location, and even to search for properties based on its ‘lifestyle’ – proximity to cafés, parks, the sea, the station or good schools, for example. “If you’re new to the area,” explains David Vaughan, “being able to search, not just by size and price, but by your preferred lifestyle, is a valuable thing.” Equally valuable will be the website’s guide to what’s what in each area of Brighton & Hove.

Also new is the introduction of Brand Vaughan Exceptional – a service created for properties which are just that little bit more special and which, by investing up front in a little extra marketing and advertising, aims to put the property in a prime position for selling.

For an additional fee, the property will get a full 1/3 page advert here in Latest Homes, as well as a ‘premium listing’ on Rightmove and on brandvaughan.co.uk. The vendor can also choose an advert in one of Sussex’s monthly magazines, or for a little extra, The Sunday Times or Evening Standard. It is, however, worth noting that Brand Vaughan’s properties are all listed free of charge on the main property website for Brighton and Hove: www.latesthomes.co.uk.‘Exceptional’ properties also get a magnificent eight-page brochure and the personal attention at all times of a director.

But what of the rebrand itself, and that ‘message’? Charlie Snell, director of The Marketing Business, who worked with Brand Vaughan to put all this together, is clear: “If you spend any time in Brand Vaughan’s office you get a sense for the sheer energy that goes in to goes into selling property – a buzz of phones, emails, people coming and going, and doing all they can to do the best for their clients.

“We wanted this busy-ness and level of activity to come out in the branding, with a clever use of a multitude of ‘doing’ words peppered across all the branded materials: top selling, fast moving, award winning, quick thinking, great writing, buyer advising – the list goes on, subtly, but noticeably there, on all items from the signage to the coffee mugs!” (‘coffee drinking’).

The changes are bold, especially for a company that is doing well. So why change what’s not broken? “Well, we’ve done well, but it’s about moving on, and staying ahead of the competition,” says Jason Brand.

Brand Vaughan has just celebrated its fifth birthday. Since 2007 they’ve gone from start-up to the highest selling office in Brighton – no mean feat given the low level of market activity of those five years compared to the previous five. With these changes in place, they look set to continue their growth over the next five years too.

Brand Vaughan is open until 8.30pm this Thursday 22 March, and invite you to join them for a glass of wine and to discuss how to achieve the best sale in 2012. For more information, speak to Jason Brand or David Vaughan. Brand Vaughan, 110 St George’s Road, Kemp Town, Brighton, BN2 1EA,
01273 683111, www.brandvaughan.co.uk