Branding Moments: The Importance of Heritage vs High Tech Auto Pilot!

In branding a company or an individual in luxury real estate or in any other real estate field, the concept of heritage is an asset and a  great differentiator. Brand heritage (something handed from the past: experience or a way of doing business). There is plenty of merit is high touch (incorporating the old fashioned) versus high tech (auto pilot) real estate. 

This can inspire confidence when a consumer is making a choice of which agency or agent to pick when buying or selling a home.  It can also imply great service or what is often referred to as high human touch or white glove service. Here is an example of a trend we have noticed in wine-making that is applicable in real estate.

In the world of wine production, which is even more competitive that the world of real estate, we are noticing heritage as a differentiator. Pictured above in the window of a wine store in Paris is the le Puy wine brand.  They have been in existence since 1610.  Their slogan "authenticity reflected in their terroir, (terroir is the composition of the soil that gives the wine its unique flavor)." 

The authenticity is the illustration of the horse and the plow, which means that their wines are produced bio dynamically. They are still using horses to plow the soil around the vines, because horses are lighter than tractors and do not damage the vine roots.  They also use natural fertilizers, as they did in the old days of wine making, which contributes to the health of the vineyard. 

More wine producers are reverting to bio-dynamics.  "In a blind tasting of 10 pairs of bio-dynamic and conventionally made wines, conducted by Fortune Magazine and judged by seven wine experts including a Master of Wine and head sommeliers (wine stewards), nine of the bio-dynamic wines were judged superior to their conventional counterpart. The bio-dynamic wines "were found to have better expressions of terroir, the way in which a wine can represent its specific place of origin in its aroma, flavor, and texture."(Wikipedia)

We have often preached the importance of high touch in all real estate whether it is luxury or industrial real estate.  Not a day goes by when a new technology is offered to bypass the human touch, essentially being on auto pilot as the end all be all.  The clients and companies we work with are known  and praised for their impeccable customer service which software will never replace.