A 50-year old brand needed to be recast for millennials and Gen Z audiences.
For its Golden Anniversary, CCIM needed a rebrand that would raise the stature of its designation, as well as promote the benefits of continuing education and membership to the next generation. The rank and file were especially concerned about a loss of prestige around the core education.
Before we expended resources, we conducted qualitative interviews with 50 customers around the world to test the hypothesis that the CCIM brand had lost its luster. Our findings completely contradicted this assumption and proved that the brand still had enormous equity but simply wasn’t living up to its potential.
To create a powerful new messaging and visual platform, we first stabilized the brand with a wide-ranging overhaul of its marketing materials, including all-new custom photography, new colors, geometry, and refinement of typography. We also worked with the CCIM marketing to ideate greater customer experiences for its members, partners, and industry professionals. The work, which started with a 3-month engagement, has spanned 3 years and now extends to rebranding CCIM chapters around the nation.
We immediately recognized that the Brand Idea of Human Capital meant we had to bring the faces of CCIM instructors, leaders, and students to the forefront.
We rebranded CCIM’s global conference brand, deploying a stylish red duotone look that was expressed across digital and print collateral, the conference stage and signage, and throughout social media.
One of the first projects we completed was an overhaul of CCIM's national education brochure. Rather than simply a listing of class offerings, we created an elegant perfect-bound book that told the story of CCIM's signature designation — from showcasing instructors to unpacking the educational content in language that was accessible to people new to the real estate industry.
Viewed by more than 160,000 people, the CI 101 course video uses a storytelling approach to promote the value and experience of CCIM’s education, with classroom B-roll, location shots, and dramatic two-camera interviews with instructors.
The next phase of our work with CCIM extends the new brand to the organizations' chapters nationwide. Working grassroots-style with chapter leaders, we researched their local markets, crystallized a strategy to attract members and sponsors, and led the revamp of their collateral and websites.
