Marketing, Branding and Top Gun: Maverick

This is an excerpt from a presentation at the 2022 Coldwell Banker Generation Blue Experience in Phoenix, AZ in October of 2022.

The Academy of Motion Pictures will soon release their list of nominees for the best film of 2022. For me, there’s no doubt what the best picture of the year should be – Top Gun: Maverick.

Not the critically acclaimed, arthouse film one would expect to get a best picture nod, but its mix of action, romance and, of course, nostalgia hits the target perfectly in every way.

This Top Gun, much like the original, has several quotable lines. One of them, for me, stands out above the rest. The same line is delivered twice at crucial points in the storyline but is most memorably spoken in the final act when the character, Rooster, turns to our hero, Maverick, and says: “It’s not the plane. It’s the pilot.”

That line is more than just an audience swooning moment as the music crescendos, but it also doubles as a marketing lesson.

Marketing…is the plane. Anyone can do marketing. I talk to people on a regular basis who are in marketing, have been in marketing and I even live with non-certified marketing experts who are quick to critique what they think is good or not.

But if marketing is the plane, the brand is the pilot. The pilot makes all the difference, and what Coldwell Banker does is something special.

I've touted for years about how Coldwell Banker has the “most effective marketing” in the industry as rated by 3rd party source, Ace Metrix. In fact, for the last decade, no other real estate brand has ranked higher in consumer advertising than Coldwell Banker.

In a day and age when producing content, videos and marketing has become a commodity, how can one real estate brand, and one that’s 116 years old, stand out and succeed unlike any other?

In his book, The Infinite Game, author Simon Sinek talks about how companies that weather economic downturns, competitive pressures and stand the test of time have something in common – a JUST CAUSE. These successful brands at their core are in business for something they truly believe in and won’t waiver from regardless of the pressures around them.

Our JUST CAUSE is Home. We know the impact a home can make and the dream that it fulfills. That idea of home is what drives us and has been uniquely reflected in our marketing for over a decade.

Claims of achievement are one thing but showing how they produce results is something entirely different. Which begs the question: has our marketing moved the needle?

Recently we surveyed real estate consumers to find out whether this year’s DREAM campaign really made an impact or not. We’ve done these types of surveys for years, but these results surprised us.

The DREAM campaign positively increased consumer perception and their intent to work with Coldwell Banker agents in nearly every personality trait including most knowledgeable agents, local expertise, best technology & their trust in our brand.

What made this data even more interesting is the consumer segments where the DREAM campaign made the most impact was in the sweet spot of “repeat sellers” and those in luxury markets.

But I’ve saved the most compelling stat for last. Those people that saw the DREAM ad are 3x more likely to work with Coldwell Banker than those that didn’t see it. 3x more likely. That is the power of marketing that only Coldwell Banker possesses and why in 2023 we will be extending our incredible DREAM campaign and messaging for another year.

We want to ensure this proven and powerful campaign not only helps our brand but also makes a local impact for our individual companies and agents. That’s why we’ve customized our ad for every company this year, but we see a way to take this a step further.

In the 4th quarter of 2022 we are testing a new way to customize videos for our companies that brings video customization to a new level. Instead of just customizing the end card with contact information we are exploring how you can instantly update visuals within the video to make them hyper-localized.

How about updating that yard sign shot with your company name? Or swapping out national brand claims in our videos for your company’s local ones? Including your own video clips! And it doesn’t take days or weeks of editing to finalize – you can download the finished product instantly.

With over 80% of all internet traffic this year driving to video content, it is critical we arm our companies with persuasive and effective video advertising to use at a local level. Now the best advertising and messaging in the industry can be hyper localized in this initial test through the end of this year while we look to build on it further in 2023.

The only thing better than delivering our DREAM campaign locally would be if we were able to give the power of the Move Meter and CB Estimate to use on local sites.

So we figured we should do that…

In development now for release in the spring selling season, we are creating fully embeddable units of the Move Meter and CB Estimate that you can use for landing pages or custom content on your own local and Moxi sites. Customize videos with Move Meter messaging and then drive customers to your own local sites to experience it for themselves.

Advertising that drives business. Hyper-localized creative. And one-of-a-kind online tools to enhance local sites. That’s not just marketing. That’s the difference the Coldwell Banker brand makes.

A difference making brand. That’s an amazing thing to be part of. This marks my 20th year with Coldwell Banker and there’s no doubt this brand, its people and what we do has made an impact on me personally.

In fact, Coldwell Banker has infiltrated every area of my life. My church family asks about our advertising campaign. Friends get excited to hear about where Gen Blue is going to be and who’s going to be performing. It’s the only company my kids know and they can spot logo violations from a moving car.

Coldwell Banker is even immortalized in one of my most recent life moments as we dropped off our firstborn at college this fall. Below is the photo I took after we said our goodbyes and Logan started to walk away. And there it is. The North Star on his back…I also learned he swiped at least two of my CB t-shirts for college as well.

Few companies and brands are like this. It’s why we haven’t just survived for 116 years but succeeded and why we are well positioned for 116 more.  

It’s not the plane. It’s the pilot. But a fighter pilot doesn’t fly alone. They always have a partner by their side, in their headset or nearby to help them. You. Our network of agents are the true pilots and Coldwell Banker is here to come along side you. Your name, next to ours. That’s the best tandem anyone can imagine.

There are many pundits and critics who have predicted that the real estate agent will become obsolete. That our brands don’t mean anything. That our demise is inevitable. With that in mind, let me leave you with one last quote from Top Gun: Maverick. Jump to 1:52 in the video below.

Not today Maverick says. Every day is today. Has been for 116 years. Will be for 116 more.

There are hundreds of real estate companies out there. Maybe thousands. But there’s only one Coldwell Banker.