Century 21 Most Recognized Real Estate Brand
Century 21 released the results of a recent market research study today (see Inman News) that shows that they are “the best-known name in the business”.
Full results below:
“Please tell me which real estate agencies you have ever seen or heard of?”
- CENTURY 21: 97%
- RE/MAX: 93%
- Coldwell Banker: 89%
- Prudential: 75%
- ERA: 51%
- GMAC: 38%
- Keller Williams: 33%
- Weichert : 18%
- Realty Executives: 14%
The results came from the 2008 Ad Tracking Study, conducted between March and August, 2008 by Millward Brown, a market research organization. The survey was based on 875 online interviews.
Certainly, C21 has been one of the more aggressive marketers despite a down market. Their ‘Path Home’ ad has been all over the airwaves this year, so it’s not surprising to see them at the top of this list.
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12 Comment(s)
2 Trackback(s)
- From Real Estate Blog » Century 21 Most Recognized bReal Estate/b Brand | Future of bReal/b b…/b | Dec 3, 2008
- From That’s what I’m talking about | 1000Watt Consulting | Mar 24, 2009
Jack Attridge | Dec 3, 2008 | Reply
Does it really matter? I am guessing that 95% of all real estate inquires are to a specific agent and not to a company.
Joshua Ferris | Dec 3, 2008 | Reply
Meh, I’m not impressed. Century 21 has the -worst- real estate offices I’ve ever seen in my area. I wouldn’t even use their offices to house a pet. And I’m not speaking about their agents but rather the offices specifically.
Even so, congrats to them, I guess.
Chris Beadling | Dec 3, 2008 | Reply
I think it is worth pointing out with a bit more emphasis that C21 paid for the study. While it is not fair to challenge the integrity fo Millward Brown, I would like to see this same study without a client bias.
Lance Jepsen author of Internet Marketing | Dec 3, 2008 | Reply
I work for a property management company and Century 21 is always at the top of the Google Local list in pretty much any given area. They use aggressive SEO marketing tactics which, outside of Century 21, is rare in the property management sector. I knocked them off their #1 Google Local ranking in my geographical area, only to have them take it back 2 weeks later. I keep doing this marketing battle with them and we go back and forth sharing the #1 position. I came to the conclusion that they have someone full time monitoring their SEO rankings in multiple listings across the country. I’m guessing it is a sort of automated program that alerts their SEO division to focus on a particular market or listing when another marketer knocks their ranking for a particular keyword down.
Dean Ouellette | Dec 4, 2008 | Reply
I wonder how many of those Prudential are really thinking about Prudential Insurance and just recognize the name from that. Not that it matters, but seems it would make sense.
logical1 | Dec 5, 2008 | Reply
They conducted the survey over 5 months and only had 875 responses? It sounds fishy to me. I suspect this was a fairly regional study. Weichert, for example, is a national brand but does not have a strong presence in a lot of markets. Realty Executives is similar, although stronger. GMAC, more often than not, is typically known by the name of the local franchise. In Atlanta, that happens to be Metrobrokers.
I would expect them to be in the top 5 but not on top.
Ryan Philipenko | Dec 6, 2008 | Reply
Very interesting, one would think that Re/Max would be the most recognized, but maybe I am biased,
.
Ryan Philipenko – Edmonton Real Estate
Free Audio Books | Dec 6, 2008 | Reply
It Century 21 has the worst office, how come it is generating one of the highest gross revenues in the industry.
The Harriman Team | Dec 7, 2008 | Reply
A few points:
1) C21 paid for the study? Who would you expect to be #1??
2) Only 875 responses from an online survey? Was it limited to the island of Borneo?? An online survey done over a 6 month period should bring in thousands of responses, not hundreds. For a marketing firm not to be able to get more responses than that does not give me warm fuzzies about their ability to conduct surveys.
3) Real estate brand recognition, much like real estate itself, is probably a local phenomenon. C21 may be the most recognized in one area, but perhaps Prudential is better known somewhere else. GMAC is non-existent in my market, but #6 on this list. For me to place any weight with a survey of this type, it would have to be done nation-wide over a longer period of time and sponsored by an unbiased party.
4) Lastly, let’s see some comparison of how brand recognition relates to sales volume. Just because people see your signs everywhere doesn’t mean they call you first. I would venture to say that, in my market, there are several companies (including the one I work for, which is regional) that out-perform C21 across the board. Better known does not always mean better performance.
Kevin Schmidtchen | Dec 8, 2008 | Reply
Reading this article and then the comments is interesting. Here in the Santa Barbara and Montecito CA area, Century 21 and Re/Max are the 2 least popular companies.
I am also surprised to not see Sotheby’s Int’l Realty on this at all.
Just makes me wonder about the exact survey that was done.
blog: http://www.SantaBarbaraRealEstateVoice.com
Sharon Hollas | Dec 22, 2008 | Reply
Not incredibly suprising, these are the two most recognized brands around.
Sharon Hollas – Surrey Real Estate
Derek Hulewicz | Sep 4, 2009 | Reply
Coldwell Banker is definitely one of the oldest !
Derek Hulewicz – EdmontonRealEstateWeb.com