Grain rebrands the biggest brand you’ve never heard of

The National Federation of Property Professionals (NFoPP) has rebranded and repositioned as the umbrella brand Propertymark and the changes, developed by Grain Creative, are aiming to significantly disrupt the estate and letting agency market in the UK.

Through its membership associations, the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), the new Propertymark brand has over 4,000 member branches on Britain’s high streets, with over half of all estate and letting agents as members. Despite all the influential work NFoPP and its member organisations have accomplished over the last 50 years, they are still little known outside the property profession.

The repositioned brand will be far more consumer focused, acting as a consumer champion, guiding and protecting buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants through the residential sales and letting process and ensuring that the agents meet the highest professional standards at every step of the way. The two subdivisions will be rebranded as NAEA Propertymark and ARLA Propertymark.

“The new name and rebranding of NFoPP and its subdivisions to Propertymark marks a sea change in the property industry,” said ARLA Propertymark Chief Executive David Cox. “We are already the go-to organisation for property professionals and now, with Propertymark, we are speaking with a single, strong voice to also guide and protect consumers – property buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants – and their money.

We could not be more delighted with our organisation’s new strategy, name and branding. Grain not only created the brand, but has left us with a clear and detailed strategy of how to implement it and increase our reach as we move forward.”

Propertymark Head of Marketing Communications & Business Development, Brian Schubert added, “It’s rare for low brand awareness to be an advantage, but in this case, the fact that nobody had heard of NFoPP and consumer brand awareness for NAEA and ARLA was relatively low, allowed us to develop a brief looking at radical change.

“The long term aim is to fundamentally change the perception of estate and letting agents, so they are recognised as trusted professionals. Our professionally recognised qualifications and ensuring our members work to the highest standards, combined with the extra consumer protection and guidance we provide, means that agencies displaying the Propertymark Protected logo will be recognised as superior in every way to unregulated non-member agencies.”

Grain’s Creative Director, Christoph Geppert, said, “Our research indicated that consumers do not trust estate agents and often enter the property market with little understanding of how it works. There is a real need for a consumer champion brand and we are working closely with Propertymark and their communications consultants, Lansons, to manage that change. In addition to the rebranding project, the repositioning process involves working across the organisation to ensure the brand transformation process is comprehensive and that the organisational mindset really does refocus around the consumer.”

The website for the new Propertymark brand, also designed by Grain, can be found at propertymark.co.uk. The full case study is here.