"The David Clarke Estate Agent brand is now highly visible and the agency is poised and ready as the housing market begins to improve."
Background
Established in Kent back in 1968, Paul Clarke took over David Clarke Estate Agents from his father in 1996. In addition to its Herne Bay head office David Clarke is now also represented in Whitstable and Canterbury. The company is well known across the region and its core sales business, to first-time and older buyers, strongly reflects the demographics of the area.
The challenge
Early in 2008 a national downturn in the housing market saw turnover fall by nearly 50%. Competition for the remaining business became much stronger and David Clarke recognised that improved branding would help it compete with the national agents now trading in the area.
As well as putting the rebranding into effect as quickly as possible it was also vital that this established family firm did not lose its recognition in the marketplace and retained existing goodwill.
The response
Paul Clarke had an established relationship with Business Link having taken its advice on other business development projects. His Business Link Adviser introduced him to Designing Demand, a Solutions for Business programme, developed by the Design Council, funded by SEEDA and delivered by South East Design. Shortly after that introduction he was working with James Duguid, his allocated Design Associate.
“This project was different right from the start,” said Duguid. “As soon as we began the preliminary analysis it became clear that Paul had very strong ideas about design and creating a more corporate feel for his brand. He also knew what he hoped to achieve.
“For him there are two critical issues; rebranding quickly, to benefit from any bounce back in the housing market, and treating the process as one of development rather than total change. In fact, the whole process was completed and implemented within just six months of our first meeting.”
Download the David Clarke Estate Agents case study
Tags: David Clarke, designing demand, generate
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