What’s in a name?
A lot of work, if you’re a massive real estate company planning to change that name.
In a move designed to unify services under a single brand, Prudential Long Island Realty changed its name last month to Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
The name change follows the acquisition earlier this year of Douglas Elliman. The combined company now has 50 offices and more than 2,000 agents from New York to Montauk. The Manhattan based Douglas Elliman, an older and more prestigious brand, will keep its name unchanged.
“We have the biggest reach in our industry and hopefully our new name will make it easier for people to recognize us and understand what we’re all about,” said CEO Dottie Herman.
Karen van de Vrande, vice president of marketing and communication for Douglas Elliman, said she was happy the Long Island-based company would be using her company’s name.
“It’s an endorsement of how they feel about the company,” she said. “It’s the best of both worlds.”
Jim Retz, the chief marketing officer for Prudential Douglas Elliman, said there was little overlap between the two companies and that no jobs had been cut.
Three offices that Douglas Elliman operates on the North Shore of Long Island will keep their names unchanged. Prudential’s only office in Manhattan, on 10th Avenue, will have its name changed to Douglas Elliman.
The actual process of changing the name of the Long Island company was a massive process, said Retz.
“We saw a brief window in late June to change everything,” said Retz. “I aged about 12 months when they said ‘let’s do this.'”
Within the space of three days, more than 40 offices on Long Island had their building signs changed. More than 2,000 yard signs stretching across more than 100 miles of Long Island were replaced with new signs. The company had to change the name on 1,300 brokers licenses, business cards, and e-mail addresses, and fix Internet classifieds and advertising.
Within the brief time frame, too, ads appeared in 102 publications distributed on Long Island, from The New York Times to The East Hampton Star. An open house campaign and a $10,000 sweepstakes contest were launched to further spread the word to the public.
The company has also held a number of receptions to celebrate its new identity.
Retz said brokers from the two companies are starting to work together.
“I’m starting to see the combination become more manifest,” he said. “People are referring busiess to each other, and that’s what its all about.”