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Coldwell Banker named most recognizable real estate brand

Coldwell Banker was the most recognizable real estate brand of 2021, with 91 percent of survey respondents correctly identifying the brokerage’s logo, font, and color scheme, according to marketing and branding platform Lucidpress, which on Tuesday released the results of its real estate branding survey.

In addition to Coldwell Banker, 90 percent of respondents recognized RE/MAX‘s trademark hot air balloons — but its recognition slid to 63 percent without the imagery, according to the survey results.

“When it comes to real estate professionals, they value their brand’s position within the industry,” The authors of the survey write. “They ranked positioning as the most important branding element of a real estate company’s success, closely followed by user experience on the app or website.”

Eighty-four percent of consumers recognized Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices due to its font, and 81 percent identified Keller Williams’s red, black and gray color scheme.

Century 21, meanwhile, was an outlier with only 30 percent of consumers correctly identifying the brand’s new logo, although it’s been in use since 2018. Consumers chose the brokerage’s old logo, with 56 percent saying the brokerage was unsuccessful in modernizing its overall image.

“Century 21’s recent rebrand didn’t just throw off consumers,” the survey’s author, Christina Sanders, writes. “The majority (56%) of real estate professionals also did not think the rebrand was successful and expected consumers to be confused.”

Credit: Lucidpress

Consumers are constantly bombarded with images and advertisements, meaning brokerages and their agents have only a few precious seconds to capture the imaginations (and pocketbooks) of buyers and sellers searching for the best team to help them reach their real estate goals.

Although only 11 percent of real estate professionals told Lucidpress their logos are the most crucial part of their brand, the opposite is true for consumers.

“When it comes to consumers, logos are crucial for brand recognition,” the survey states. “The majority of respondents were able to correctly identify top real estate brands like Coldwell Banker, Keller Williams, Berkshire Hathaway [HomeServices] and RE/MAX by their logo alone.”

[Inman Slideshow]

Email Marian McPherson