The Housing Group - Brand Development

Challenge

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The Housing Group has been building homes in metro Atlanta since 1979. The company is known for catering to market needs, including building environmentally sound homes to maintain its competitive edge during a housing market downturn, and needed to tout its green focus to appeal to buyers.

Solution

The company launched Smart Living, a green building program that took EarthCraft and Energy Star standards to the next level. The Housing Group's green focus presented an opportunity to refresh its almost 30-year old image to appeal to homebuyers seeking energy-efficient homes. c21 helped position The Housing Group on the forefront of the green movement by revamping the homebuilder's branding and messaging, and ensuring those changes were reflected throughout its marketing initiatives.

• Created a logo that embodied The Housing Group's philosophy — one rooted in an earth-tone color palette and that incorporated elements that could be echoed throughout other design materials including signage, model home décor and more. The new logo was not a vast departure, so people familiar with the company could still recognize the brand.
• Updated Web site copy, press kit materials and media pitches focused on the environmentally friendly, energy-saving features of the homes, as well as the company's green building practices, such as using recycled carpet, dual-flush toilets and fluorescent lighting, and replanting established trees to save them.
• Carried the new branding to a Web site, e-mail newsletter and pay-per-click program — focusing on green keywords like "energy efficient home" and "new green homes" to position The Housing Group as an industry leader.

Results

The Housing Group's Smart Living project received media coverage in local publications including the DeKalb Neighbor, while the rebranding effort resonated with current and potential homeowners alike. As well, The Housing Group's green keywords and targeted ad copy have proven to be the most successful for its pay-per-click campaign resulting in hundreds of clicks to the company's new Web site. Within one month of the launch, the company received a sales lead from a potential homebuyer who specifically attributed interest in a home to finding The Housing Group through Google via green keywords.

"c21's work to integrate our green philosophy into all of our marketing efforts proves its value each time someone walks into our sales centers and references our pay-per-click campaign and Web site."

-- Mike Ray, principal, The Housing Group.