Multifamily companies have a branding problem - here's how to solve it!

Myriads of individual apartment brands

According to National Multifamily Housing Council , there are 59,000 apartment buildings with 100+ units in the U.S. — and probably just as many individual property brands. Managing them seems like an impossible task.

What could go wrong?

From cannibalizing marketing efforts (competing against themselves) to confusing renters, multifamily companies face significant challenges:

• lack of clarity (internal and external)
• reduced brand awareness
• cross marketing & cross selling
• replicating or scaling success
• achieving consistency
• economies of scale
• inability to tell a strong brand story

So what's the best brand strategy for multifamily companies, one that can help overcome these challenges?

Brand Architecture

To answer the question, let's dive into brand architecture, and first define it.

Brand architecture is how organizations structure their portfolio of brands.

There are 4 types of brand architecture:

1. Master Brands: a.k.a. branded houses, where no product has its own distinct brand, and the master brand is used across product lines and categories. FedEx or Amazon are examples of master brand architecture.
2. Sub Brands: where products have their own distinct brands, but leverage the equity of the master brand. Great for companies that want to enter a new market or category. Car manufacturers showcase an architecture focused on sub brands, where each sub brand serves a category of consumers (i.e. Toyota Camry, Prius, Tundra).
3. Endorsed Brands: where a product doesn't have a brand with enough equity, and needs to leverage the equity of the master brand to justify its existence. Endorsed brands are typically used by companies integrating a new brand as part of an acquisition, or having the need to frequently create new brands. A familiar example comes from hospitality: Courtyard by Marriott, DoubleTree by Hilton.
4. Invisible Brands: a.k.a. branded houses, where the product brand is front and center, while the master brand is virtually unknown to the consumer. Examples of such brands can be found in the food industry, such as Nestlé and Kellogg's.

How do you choose the right brand architecture?

Brand architecture evolves with a company's portfolio of brands and moves fluidly from one approach to another as the company grows. The world's top companies (by value) tend to have a bias towards master brands.

While most top brands are going all in on master brands, launching sub-brands, endorsed brands, or an invisible brands architecture might be the right solution when:

• accessing a new, distinct customer segment (like senior housing or military housing)
• entering or experimenting with new markets (short term rentals, flexible living)
• offering a very specific value proposition within a category (like active seniors, or fitness focused renters)
• the master brand needs a refresh with a layer of novelty or innovation

Multifamily Brands and The Renter Journey

As they start their apartment search, renters typically interact with 2 brands: first with the property brand, when they see it on listings sites. Later in their search as they contact a property, tour and apply, they may learn about the manager/owner brand (let's call this the master brand).

Looking at some of the largest owners and managers and their brands, we can see that most of them are branded houses (or invisible brands):

Property brands are at the center of the interaction, while master brands are unknown to the prospective renter until later in their journey, when they narrow down their options and start reaching out to properties to schedule tours.

By the time a renter starts interacting with the master brand, they've already disqualified a significant number of properties. In fact, they may disqualify a property without even knowing who manages it.

Things renters may never know about your master brand before they dismiss your properties:

• that you provide an outstanding resident experience
• that their friends at another one of your properties are happy renters
• that one of their previous residence was managed by you
• that you support the causes they care about
• your brand story

Why does this matter? Because the brand equity of the master brand doesn't get to play a part in the consideration stage of the renter journey. And that's exactly what differentiates companies when their apartments are being compared side by side.

The most valuable differentiator of a multifamily company is their brand.

Multifamily companies who want to win at brand must shift towards a master brand architecture and introduce their master brands to renters as early as possible in the journey, when searching for inventory, and before choosing favorites and deciding which properties to tour.

Shifting towards a master brand architecture

This encompasses some form of rebranding properties and moving them closer to their master brand. It can be achieved by combining their local component with the master brand. Depending on where a company is as a brand, it may make sense to start small and switch to endorsed brands, introduce sub-brands, or even jump directly to master brand.

Let's pick an example from our list of property names above ( Essex Property Trust ) and see how it would evolve through the brand architecture spectrum (right to left):

Quick fact: Of all the apartment listings websites, Apartments.com is the only one showing a property's master brand on its listings.

When using master brands in marketing and leasing activities, the master brand gets more exposure to prospective renters.

Multifamily brands that get it

Some multifamily brands have started with or have migrated towards a master brands architecture or hybrid models. Let's look at a few that stand out.

Avalon Bay Communities

Since 2011, AvalonBay Communities has been using a sub-brand architecture model, with 3 sub-brands, each targeting a different category of renters. Check our their home page and initial press release for a detailed description of the type of renters they target with each sub-brand.

Sentral

Sentral , a relatively new operator offering flexible living to their residents, adopted a master brand architecture as they focus on building a modern and innovative brand with an ever increasing footprint.

Bell Partners

Bell Partners Inc is a great example of master brand architecture, where they integrate a memorable part of their brand, "Bell" into each of the local brands.

There are certainly other memorable examples of multifamily companies that have approached branding from a master brand perspective. If you have great examples of branding done right in multifamily, please share them in the comments below.

Conclusion - What's next for multifamily brands?

In a recent article, Mike Whaling speaks about how multifamily companies should "market the way renters shop", calling it portfolio leasing. His article, which covers necessary steps to get started with portfolio leasing, and also the benefits that come with it, was the source of inspiration for this post.

One example Mike offers in his article is the approach of brands in the hospitality industry, and how they build familiarity and gain trust (DoubleTree, Marriott, etc.). It's worth noting that hotels have realized that customer experience is everything, and want to own the entire customer journey, using their hard earned brand equity to get there. And to do that, they are shifting towards a master brand architecture (think Marriott.com).

Multifamily companies who want to win at renter experience must also win at brand, and the first step is choosing the right brand architecture.

When choosing the right brand architecture, there are two basic rules to follow:

1. Prioritize clarity for the consumer
2. Have a bias towards the master brand architecture

Growing an outstanding multifamily master brand is more than just brand architecture, it's creating a consistent renter experience from awareness to renewal and beyond, across the entire portfolio - one that tells a single, authentic, unique story.

Sources of inspiration (and information):

• Portfolio Leasing: 11 Ways to Create Prospect-Centric Apartment Marketing
• NMHC characteristics of apartment stock
• The Brand Strategy Sprint from Scott Galloway at Section (brand architecture fundamentals and the Amazon visual in this post)