SUCCESSFUL BRAND LEVERAGING
by Lim Lay Ying
Property Times, New Straits Times
16th October 2004

“Branding” is the buzz word in the real estate world today. Developers are becoming more and more aware of the implications, benefits, and the power of a successful brand.

They now know that being good at what they do – building and selling real estate, is no longer enough. Their competitors may be running their business as well as they do, but for as long as they do not capitalize on building and leveraging their brand, they will stand to lose out. Hopes of pricing in the “brand equity” factor to command that extra premium would be a long shot. At best, they can only look forward to a mediocre market response.

Donald J. Trump, the American real estate mogul who managed to claw his way back after going bust when the early 1990s recession hit the United States, successfully created a nationally known luxury real estate brand.

The brand is an asset

Condominiums in Trump-branded buildings sold for 39 per cent above New York’s US$853-per-square-foot average (RM3,241) early this year. At the end of last year, Trump single-handedly raised the average condominium price for the entire city of New York by 25 per cent with the high-priced condominiums (ranging between US$575,000 to US$15 million) at his Trump International Hotel & Tower project. The units sold quickly even off-plan.

The Trump brand today, is even bigger than it was during Donald Trump’s last peak in the late 1980s. In the United States, there are plenty of people who will do deals just to get close to him. The name earns him deals that other real estate developers seldom even get a glimpse of, and allows him to get financing where most would have long been cut off.

Trump is currently erecting seven new skyscrapers, building three lavish new golf courses, and producing beauty pageants. His latest project with Mark Burnett, the creator of the long-running reality show Survivor, is currently NBC’s top-rated reality show.

The Apprentice, which is like Survivor in Armani suits, is a runaway success, garnering a total of 12.2 million viewers. The show ties with The West Wing in attracting the highest level of viewership from amongst the rich – households with US$75,000-plus (RM285,000-plus) income, and who are also smart (head of household had four or more years of college) and relatively young (the median age of the audience is 38.3).

Donald Trump has done a great job in using his Trump brand to get ahead. The brand is an asset to the Trump Organization. In a poll conducted by the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association amongst some 800 senior executives on what names they know in real estate, the Trump name scored top points in the luxury real estate category.

Effective brand management

In this age of intense competitive pressure, branding is the best way to differentiate an organization in the minds of the real estate consumer. Successful brands have discovered the advantage of brand creation, brand positioning, and brand management, to compete, survive, and thrive.

On the home front, the visionary founding fathers of real estate development company, Sunrise Bhd, who foresaw the potential of creating a lifestyle hub in the suburbs of Mont’Kiara, succeeded in building strong brand names for both the company and the locale.

Today, the brands – both Sunrise as a corporation and Mont’Kiara as a residential suburb, represent quality, prestige, innovation, and service excellence. The management which inherited the brands, did an excellent job in leveraging on the brand equity by effectively managing the brand through all aspects of communication.

Customers are investing in Sunrise projects because the company has time and again, delivered its brand promise of creating values that are sustainable and appreciating steadily. With the best practices it subscribes by, Sunrise Bhd has been able to differentiate its product from a market that is getting increasingly over-crowded. It is enjoying pricing premiums over its competitors and has a following of loyal supporters from amongst earlier owners who continue to buy into new launches.

What is to be learned from Sunrise’s (and Trump’s) successful brand leveraging? Sunrise is a big brand. But in the context of the total real estate development business in the country, it is not the major player. But because the company held firm in its relentless pursuit to exceed customers’ expectations, it has been able to make its vision become reality.