For developers, the recent path to success has not been down easy street. Even a building with a seemingly perfect location, perfect design, and perfect amenities needs proper positioning. That’s why, in today’s real estate climate, an even greater emphasis has been placed on conceiving and executing comprehensive marketing and sales programs that are not only innovative and creative, but credible. Finding that rare ally that has the critical thinking, knowledge, capability, and drive to shepherd one through the tough times is no longer a tremendous asset, it’s a necessary one.
The rarest of all just might be The Marketing Directors. Quarterbacked by founder and CEO Adrienne Albert, this talented team of seasoned pros is basically a full service marketing and sales/rental organization that specializes in new, high-end homes. But there’s nothing basic about The Marketing Directors. Recognized as a national leader in high-density residential development, since 1980, the group has served many of the industry’s most prominent developers across North America. In MD’s lexicon, that means 29-years of executing unique, often groundbreaking campaigns that have resulted in more than $60 billion in home sales. It means surviving and thriving through the ups and downs, even in market conditions similar to what we face today. It means complete confidence. That’s why the firm presently represents condo and rental developers in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and North Carolina.
Recently, the company has been appointed marketing and exclusive sales agent for five new luxury residential buildings located throughout the Big Apple. The signature buildings include: 254 Park Avenue South (167 premium homes in a 14-story building rising in Manhattan’s vibrant Flatiron neighborhood); The Fairchild (21 exclusive residences housed in a distinctive nine-story building in Tribeca); 34 Leonard (16 loft-like homes located in an eight-story building in Tribeca); Centria (152 residences in a 34-story building situated adjacent to Rockefeller Center); and The Classic at Kew Gardens (52 condominium homes located in the fashionable Queens neighborhood). “We’re delighted to have been chosen to handle the exclusive sales of these extraordinary residential properties,” says Albert. Other current MD projects include award winners Platinum, The Setai, Visionaire, Avonova, and Atelier.
“We’re focused on constantly improving what we do in order to be more effective, so that [our campaigns] have a significant difference for our developers and ultimately the end users.”
It’s not surprising that MD was the firm of choice. It simply does things differently, pinpointed to three overarching aspects. First, MD has an in-house market insight division, tracking all condo transfers throughout the entire marketplace. The research is done in such a way as to “clean” the data, so that there is nothing errant to skew reality (such as a one bedroom reported as a three). With the data scrubbed, MD works from a very refined, very targeted info base. Second, MD has extensive training programs in not only sales, but also in product training. “If our people aren’t armed with the answers, they can’t be the experts our clients rely on us to be,” Albert notes. So even if someone’s been on the team for 20 years, they’re rolling up their sleeves so that they can do it better tomorrow than they did it yesterday. Third, the team has an analytical approach to what they do. “It’s not my opinion, or Pat’s opinion, or Monica’s,” Albert says. “Our recommendations are based on three decades of documented experience, born out of proven methodologies.” Put together, these three significant, strategic differences create a proactive, straight-shooting, ever-evolving idea machine that crafts cross-platform, mind-melting marketing and sales solutions that thrill clients, with significant increases in revenue directly attributable to MD’s deliverables.
Albert doesn’t know why other firms aren’t like this, but she does know that MD was started when nobody else was in the field; they did it differently then, and they do it differently now. “We’re focused on constantly improving what we do in order to be more effective, so that [our campaigns] have a significant difference for our developers and ultimately the end users. Because giving a developer a competitive edge in the marketplace means that the person who ultimately lives in that home lives in a better environment.”
Twenty-nine years of incomparable accomplishment also equates to accolades. This year, MD added yet another 23 national awards from the National Association of Home Builders to its list of accomplishments. But the biggest honor went to Albert, who personally is responsible for the marketing and sales of more than $29 billion in residential sales. In January, she was inducted into the NAHB Hall of Fame as a legend of residential marketing. Albert is the first woman to receive the prestigious distinction in the hall’s 16-year history. What does she think about being a living legend? “The recognition is very exciting,” the guru admits. “I was shocked. I usually fly below the radar, but I’m honored.”
Now she just has to keep living up to the reputation. “Given where our economy is today, we have new challenges, and it’s my job to find new solutions and to, if you will, invent the next wheel,” she muses. And that’s what she sees as her future: finding a new and exciting path through this economic slump. “I’m not going to sit back and complain,” she declares. “I’m going to get out there and get my hands dirty.”
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February 5, 2009History Revamped : Equinox Reopens
