Project Overview

How do you make an 160 year old brand feel fresh, modern and relevant in one of the most competitive, image driven categories?

Project Commissioner

Hodges

Project Creator

Traffic Brand Agency

Project Brief

Established in 1856, Hodges is one of Melbourne’s oldest real estate agents with an unmatched wealth of accrued expertise and local market knowledge in the Bayside and Geelong communities, where it operates. Whilst the business has performed very well, the team felt there was a lack of agreed direction in terms of what the brand stands for. To unite the team and embark on an agreed new direction, Traffic was approached to develop a strategic and creative direction for the future of the brand.

Project Innovation/Need

Building on the longevity of business, the higher selling prices and the level of services, our creative team came up with an overarching conceptual direction that has ‘more’ as its’ centrepiece. The letter H was crafted to look like a plus symbol, always communicating the key message - that ‘you get more with Hodges’.

The new brandmark and supporting brand identity has been rolled out across a range of brand touchpoints and marketing sales tools, including corporate collateral, auction boards, print listings, flyers, web & digital assets, offices, merchandise and more, including a multi-faceted brand launch campaign for the ‘new’ Hodges.

Design Challenge

Hodges needed a brand that represented the diversity of their target markets. From the very upmarket suburbs of the Bayside areas - where the brand has enormous recognition and acceptance - through to newer, territories like Cranbourne and Ascot Vale where the brand is establishing itself. The new brand needed to 'stretch' to accommodate all of these variables.

Effectiveness

It is still too early to see any achievements the rebranding has had on the target, however success can already be seen on a corporate level.

Says Hodges CEO Carmel Baker, “It was an incredibly challenging brief to bring together our cohesive elements while demonstrating our brand values. The Traffic team brilliantly engaged our network of franchisees and team members to set them up for success.

“The feedback from right across the network has been overwhelmingly positive, and the internal buy-in to what we have created is already incredibly high. When employees want business cards the next day, want to have their office remodelled and our phone is ringing with people wanting to join the network, we know that’s a good start.”