Warren Buffett's new franchise seeks identity
November 11th, 2012, 1:00 am by Jeff Collins
Earl Lee, a long-time executive for Irvine-based Prudential Real Estate, has been tapped to lead a joint venture seeking to form a new national real estate brand. The venture, called HSF Affiliates, was formed when Warren Buffett's HomeServices of America partnered with Prudential's parent firm, Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management. Irvine is the new venture's headquarters. We asked Lee to describe the challenges ahead for this new venture …
Us: What is HSF Affiliates?
Earl: HSF is the holding company, it's the joint venture company, that three brands are currently housed in. That is Real Living, Prudential and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices.
Us: What does HSF stand for?
Earl: It doesn't really have a meaning. It's an acronym. Again, we have a joint venture company that has three brands in it.
For us, the first challenge was getting a branding decision out there that was acceptable to our network. I think we accomplished that very well. Now it is beginning to build a value proposition, working on the visual identity, really being able to bring to life what that franchise is and what it will mean to the individual companies that will choose to franchise with us.
Us: What do you mean by “value proposition?”
Earl: People buy franchises because they look for value. You know, can this help me with my business? Can this help me with services that I don't have? Does it allow me to expand the markets that I might not have been in? Value is all about the (suite of products and services that come with a franchise).
Us: What will the visual identity be? The new chain has a long title.
Earl: We're still working on that, but obviously, it has to translate well into business cards, lawn signs, open house signs, how it looks on the Internet. We're working on that. We obviously have a very talented brand agency, Interbrand, helping us, and we expect to be able to roll that out in 2013.
Web Resource: http://www.ocregister.com/lansner/strong-447270-earl-new.html
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