Halstead debuts green goals at awards ceremony 

 
At today’s semi-annual awards ceremony for top-producing agents, Halstead Property will give away more than just kudos, awards and gifts, as the company tries to help its brokers go green.

The brokerage will introduce a new gift box for its nearly 600 agents, who will give them to their clients upon closing. The recyclable box will include an energy efficient light bulb along with a pamphlet with tips on “how they can be more green conscious in their homes,” said Diane Ramirez, the company’s president. Brokers will also receive a recyclable grocery bag with the words “green is better” on it and the Halstead logo.

Agents will also be able to buy the shopping bags at the internal online Halstead marketing center, which has sold company merchandise for the past four years. 

The company has begun producing all marketing materials on recyclable paper. Halstead distributes more than a million pieces of direct mail per year, Ramirez said. Company stationery and business cards will follow within the next year, she said.

Halstead recently introduced an online magazine that showcases exclusives and allows buyers to flip through individual pages electronically. The online magazine has helped increase readership of the semi-annual print portfolio magazine that the firm distributes inside subscription copies of the New York Times by 74 percent over the same period last year, said Robyn Kammerer, the company’s vice president of communications.

In the three months after the magazine went live at the end of March, Kammerer said the site drew 185,000 viewers.