The elixir of brand longevity

Flickr photo by fisherkiller.

A rite of passage is held each year by our local Montessori school. The graduation ceremony (click here to see a photo) for sixth-graders culminates with each child walking through a makeshift doorway that ceremoniously delivers them through to the next phase of their life.

Trust me, this event is a tearjerker.

One by one each child is called forth and takes a seat in front of friends and family.

One by one each of the seven teachers steps forward and addresses the child by name and recites the following, "The word that I have chosen for you is ..."

The teachers all choose their words independently, formulating them over the six years they've spent with the children. These words do not merely describe -- they provide a definition of who they are at their core.

"Astute," "anchored," "assertive," "benevolent," "dependable," "empathetic," "generous," "independent," "positive," "wise," to name a few.

With each chosen word, each teacher extrapolates meaning. Of one child, the teacher said, "I am willing to bet you came out the womb that way." The mom was standing a few feet from me, laughing, crying and nodding her head up and down.

As each teacher concludes, they pin their respective card on a ribbon draped across each child's shoulder.

When the ceremony ended we all stood in line for some delicious barbecue. I paid special attention to these children in a way I never had before: how they participated in the food line; how they interacted with each other during playtime while we parents sat around after dinner dredging on about the economy; how some helped clean up while others looked after the younger kids.

These children were as described. Their words were not chosen at random.

They defined who they were to their core.

The alchemy of real estate branding

What I witnessed last night, innocently and naively offered by a group of the most dedicated teachers I have known during my 21 years of raising kids, would shame every novice real estate copywriter and marketer who took a dime from a broker developing their branding campaign. ...CONTINUED

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