[Note: I offer the following as a playful prayer for an end to "personal" branding in real estate]
***
I want to do my part to help you. If you want to nail a great brand identity, do this:
Start with Photoshop. Don’t bother reading the manual. The truth is, the more you know, the less apt you are to break rules. And breaking conventional rules is what the real estate branding game is all about.
So download the program and then …
Photoshop an image of your face on things. Fruit. Street signs. Weaponry. Heavy machinery. Farm animals rock too. If by some chance your last name is a noun … home run, man. You can kill two branding birds with one boulder.
Now if by some miracle your name contains both a noun and an adjective – like, say, Matt Mirthful - we’re talking about dominant market share days after you launch your campaign.
As for a slogan, think of it this way: just write the first thing that comes to mind. Forget that stuff about writing, knowing your audience or hiring those Madison Ave.-style admen. It’s not like they can do any better.
Instead, follow your stream of consciousness. Go with things things like:
I will make all your dreams come true. Wake up, text me, consider it done.
Not only am I an amazing agent, I can rock your world all week and twice on Sunday.
I go the extra mile. But that’s it. That’s as far as I take it. JK. I’m so funny.
I possess every righteous trait imaginable. Honest. Sophisticated. I have integrity. I never lie. I speak all languages. I’ve held every job there is so, really, I can do everything you need and I can do it better than anyone who has ever lived. Come to think of it, I am probably the almighty.
There isn’t a deal I can’t close, an offer I can’t negotiate, a price I can’t get, a car I can’t outrun, a mathematical equation I can’t calculate in my head, a family dispute that I can’t resolve. In fact, tomorrow I plan on ending world hunger.
See what I mean? The more out there you get the better. Really. People respond positively to these things.
Think about how much Brylcreem must have spent for their slogan “A little dab’ll do ya.” Give me a break.
Trust me on this people. I’ve seen the future. In it was a Man-Lamb tethered to the Space Shuttle, floating in zero gravity miles above the competition.
Okay, maybe the slogan should have read Light years ahead of the competition. Or maybe just a simple, “Baaaaaaa.”
But still.
So go for it.
I think everyone who wants to make millions in real estate should do this.
Man, I can’t wait for tomorrow.
- Davison
Twitter - @1000wattmarc
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Ah, the moon boots are a nice touch.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_J._Lamb
[...] Read more: Like a Man-Lamb tethered to the Space Sh… [...]
It’s a darned shame that you’ve only got a lukewarm opinion on this.
One of my favorite gems was a postcard I got (just after the New Year) with local agents whose mugs had been superimposed onto a couple of bumblebees … they were just “buzzing in” to wish me a Happy New Year.
BAAAAAAAAA.
If I don’t know it, it doesn’t exist.
“The Almighty” Fantastic tag-line.
“Exceeding Your Expectations”
And on and on….I may guilt of a misdemeanor from time to time.
Gotta focus.
coincidentally the phrase “I can rock your world all week and twice on Sunday” is the line I used to pick up my wife.
This was the 1st article I read when I woke up and it made my day – thanks.
Things like men-lamb make me wanna hurl.
But according to the link Norm posted in comment #1, the guy does a heck of a lot of business.
I don’t get it.
Oh Marc, you are giving me ideas!!! LOL. Maybe I should not go there – imagination can be a dangerous thing…
Just saw one – agent posing with a vanity license plate along with their branding message – I think…
My new slogan is going to be:
“I’m the kid you bullied that grew up to be better than you in almost every way. Swallow your pride and call me to get it done.”
Oh, and please tell me you’ve seen “I Love You, Man”. They take a page from your book: http://www.moviemarketingmadness.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/i-love-you-man-billboard.jpg
Jay,
“But according to the link Norm posted in comment #1, the guy does a heck of a lot of business.”
True, but one has to wonder how a lamb in moon boots squares with a Rolls Royce and 500-700 million in annual production. Clearly I don’t have much to offer Brad on selling real estate but I would certainly think that hiring an advertising agency would be a good idea given the sales volume. Or maybe not. Excuse me while I go superimpose my face on a fish.
http://www.shoesinter.com/
Precious, really precious – We need to create a “wall of real estate shame” website and the homepage image would be this priceless morsel of lamb kebob, followed by the Laverne & Shirley video and finally the female surfer agent riding the big waves and “big listings” in Hawaii.
btw – this agent’s marketing seems very similar to the recent “I Love You Man” movie which featured an agent with some “interesting” billboards in L.A
That is quite possibly one of the funniest real estate ads I have ever seen. Thank you so much for the laugh today.
Interesting idea. Although I never have felt that I have talent in the marketing and design area, where I have good friends that do. So, instead I just send the business their way.
-Tyler
Tyler,
That’s defeats the point. Forget talent. Forget outsourcing to experts. Forget possessing any marketing or branding expertise. Throw all that out the window. Wing it man! That appears to be the secret I’ve been missing all along
One of the things that I *DO* find interesting is how well much of this stuff really DOES work. I know of an agent (who shall remain nameless) who INSISTS on doing his ads this way. They are cheesy, cluttered — almost embarrassingly ill-crafted. But they work. This guy’s website looks like he slapped it together using MS FrontPage in 1994. But he gets a SCHLOAD of traffic.
So, while I cringe each and every time I see one of his ads, I have a hard time knocking him because I know he’s doing a TON of business.
Things that make you go, “HMMM.”
Yes. That is my point too. If you do a ton of business and this is how you market, there is no question that all your success can be credited to these sorts of collateral. I have been blind but now I can see.
@Jay, what’s not to get? A man connected to a farm animal. It’s genius dude. Look at you. Your avatar – you look very serious. You project a man that is contemplative. A thinker. Someone who appears to have concerns. No wonder you aren’t closing 20 deals a day. Here’s my advice, get creative like man lamb. Photoshop your face on a bird. A Phoenix rising from the cinders of the housing market. Perch yourself high up on a big saguaro. Put flip flops on so you don’t stab your paw. And uh… place a Tootsie pop in your mouth too. Why? because that’s how you roll. You’ll be the Jaybird, Tootsie pop, cactus in flip flop agent Arizona agent.
Hey, this stream of consciousness branding stuff is fun.
Scientists have discovered water on the moon. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-moon24-2009sep24,0,791176.story. They now believe colonizing it will be much easier than ever thought possible. Who might you think will be the perfect agent to represent lunar real estate?
@ian. With a last name like yours, there is a whole new level of personal branding that you could expose to the world.
[...] Like a Man-Lamb tethered to the Space Shuttle floating miles above the competition by Marc Davison at 1000Watt Consulting [...]
Marc:
I had no clue what to expect from the title of your post, but now I do and it’s funny as hell!
I know you have already discovered this, but let me assure you, there’s no limit to what real estate agents will do or try.
RM
@Atlanta
It seems that when I believe that I have seen it all, I come across something new that renews my belief that there is no limit to absolute creative brilliance that exits in real estate. And then I feel sadness for all the major ad agencies in the world who will never have access to such talent.
What is their loss is certainly our gain.
Marc:
The Outer Space Lamb almost needs no discussion.
A fancy ad agency could never come up with that priceless pitch.
RM
It is an eye-catching photo, I am not sure I would want a sheep body attached to my head, the implications are too negative.
Aloha,
Keahi
Keahi:
You think being in the SE USA I would of thought of that, but you’re right.
LOL.
RM
Brad Lamb said that when he started in RE, he figured out that to be known in your market, you have to have your face everywhere and have people talking about you. Guess it works…http://torontoist.com/2007/01/tall_poppy_inte_43.php