Buying a home is no small feat, and nobody knows that better than Dave Gring and Lyndsye Felsman. The two realtors combined have over 21 years of experience, and as they joined forces under the Century 21 brand umbrella, they wanted help finding a way to communicate what makes them unique.
The housing market is inundated with realtors, and every prospective homeowner is faced with the challenge of finding a realtor who will advocate for them. So with rebranding a real estate company, we were faced with this challenge:
How do you build trust when you might not get a second chance at a first impression?
Buying a home is no small feat, and nobody knows that better than Dave Gring and Lyndsye Felsman. The two realtors combined have over 21 years of experience, and as they joined forces under the Century 21 brand umbrella, they wanted help finding a way to communicate what makes them unique. The housing market is inundated with realtors, and every prospective homeowner is faced with the challenge of finding a realtor who will advocate for them. So with rebranding a real estate company, we were faced with this challenge:
How do you build trust when you might not get a second chance at a first impression?
We met with the two colleagues to identify key themes for their brand, and one important distinctive that emerged was the distance between hustle and diligence. What’s the difference? The former, oft-invoked word focuses on how someone’s actions make them appear—a reluctance to slow down because there is work to be done. Conversely, the latter word is decidedly less glamorous, and it suggests a level of humility—a willingness to set aside self-interest for the good of the person being helped. This theme of commitment became the guiding premise for Dave and Lyndsye’s brand.
This idea is most explicit in the tagline we developed: “Your neighbors. Your realtors.” Typically, consumers might think of their relationship with realtors as very short-term, but by linking it with the idea of neighborliness, David and Lyndsye are reframed as personable, hospitable, and intentional advocates for soon-to-be homeowners. It may seem like a matter of semantics, but when rebranding a real estate company, we have to remember that this is a competitive field. These small distinctions are critical for setting the tone and building relationships with clients.
Similarly, we viewed the team’s name as an opportunity to demonstrate this relationality. Dave and Lyndsye identified the importance of accountability in their work, and while we first considered a more abstract name that would convey this value, we realized the strongest way to do so is to use the colleagues’ names—The Gring Felsman Team. In doing so, we communicated Dave and Lyndsye’s willingness to stake their reputations on the quality of their work, removing the buffer of an abstract name like “Trust Realty.”
Visually, we wanted to depict both the warmth and competence that David and Lyndsye project, which led us to visuals and a color palette evocative of a comfortable professionalism—the kind of brand you could discuss business with during the week or golf with on weekends. We opted for natural, subdued colors, suggesting a kind of earthiness, and we complemented these with a serif typeface—Proxima Sera—to reflect the approachable formality that characterizes The Gring Felsman Team.
In the end, The Gring Felsman Team emerged with a strong and straightforward brand—one that relies on the strength of the reputation they’ve carefully developed during their time in realty, and one that will continue to build that reputation with every new client they serve.
How do you build trust when you might not get a second chance at a first impression?
Buying a home is no small feat, and nobody knows that better than Dave Gring and Lyndsye Felsman. The two realtors combined have over 21 years of experience, and as they joined forces under the Century 21 brand umbrella, they wanted help finding a way to communicate what makes them unique. The housing market is inundated with realtors, and every prospective homeowner is faced with the challenge of finding a realtor who will advocate for them. So with rebranding a real estate company, we were faced with this challenge:
How do you build trust when you might not get a second chance at a first impression?
We met with the two colleagues to identify key themes for their brand, and one important distinctive that emerged was the distance between hustle and diligence. What’s the difference? The former, oft-invoked word focuses on how someone’s actions make them appear—a reluctance to slow down because there is work to be done. Conversely, the latter word is decidedly less glamorous, and it suggests a level of humility—a willingness to set aside self-interest for the good of the person being helped. This theme of commitment became the guiding premise for Dave and Lyndsye’s brand.
This idea is most explicit in the tagline we developed: “Your neighbors. Your realtors.” Typically, consumers might think of their relationship with realtors as very short-term, but by linking it with the idea of neighborliness, David and Lyndsye are reframed as personable, hospitable, and intentional advocates for soon-to-be homeowners. It may seem like a matter of semantics, but when rebranding a real estate company, we have to remember that this is a competitive field. These small distinctions are critical for setting the tone and building relationships with clients.
Similarly, we viewed the team’s name as an opportunity to demonstrate this relationality. Dave and Lyndsye identified the importance of accountability in their work, and while we first considered a more abstract name that would convey this value, we realized the strongest way to do so is to use the colleagues’ names—The Gring Felsman Team. In doing so, we communicated Dave and Lyndsye’s willingness to stake their reputations on the quality of their work, removing the buffer of an abstract name like “Trust Realty.”
Visually, we wanted to depict both the warmth and competence that David and Lyndsye project, which led us to visuals and a color palette evocative of a comfortable professionalism—the kind of brand you could discuss business with during the week or golf with on weekends. We opted for natural, subdued colors, suggesting a kind of earthiness, and we complemented these with a serif typeface—Proxima Sera—to reflect the approachable formality that characterizes The Gring Felsman Team.
In the end, The Gring Felsman Team emerged with a strong and straightforward brand—one that relies on the strength of the reputation they’ve carefully developed during their time in realty, and one that will continue to build that reputation with every new client they serve.
