Long & Foster Real Estate
How Long & Foster Unified a Nearly 60-Year Real Estate Brand Around One Idea — and Closed the Gap Between Who They Had Become and the Story They Were Telling
About Long & Foster Real Estate
Long & Foster Real Estate is one of the most recognized independent brokerages in the Mid-Atlantic, operating across eight states from New Jersey to North Carolina with approximately 6,000 agents. CMO Kathleen Wilks leads a marketing team of more than 15 professionals responsible for the systems, standards, and materials that support those agents. The company is nearly 60 years old — and recently completed its most significant brand refresh in years.
The refresh was not born from brand failure. It was born from brand evolution. Long & Foster had grown significantly — in services, capabilities, and scale — but the story it was telling hadn't kept pace. "Although our company had evolved significantly, our story didn't reflect who we had become," Kathleen said. What followed was the "It's the One" campaign: a deliberate rethinking of how one of real estate's most trusted brands communicated its value, built around a single organizing idea — one company, one team, one seamless experience.
- Northeast
- 6,000 Agents
- 8 States
- Est. 1968
What Judges Said
- Brand Refresh That Closed a Real Gap
- Long & Foster's "It's the One" campaign was not a rebrand for its own sake. The company had evolved significantly — its services, capabilities, and scale — but the story it was telling had not kept pace. The refresh unified fragmented messaging into a single organizing idea: one trusted company, one integrated team, one seamless experience. Judges recognized a brand evolution with a real strategic problem behind it.
- From Command-and-Control to Tools
- The operational challenge of brand consistency at 6,000 agents across eight states required more than standards — it required a mindset shift. Agents stopped seeing brand standards as rules and started seeing them as tools. When following standards meant getting better materials faster rather than being told what to do, adoption followed. Judges recognized that this reframe — not the standards themselves — is what made the rollout work.
- Agent-First Brand Philosophy at Enterprise Scale
- Long & Foster's entire brand strategy is built on a counterintuitive premise: clients don't choose their agent because of a brokerage logo. They choose because of trust, knowledge, and relationship. The company's marketing exists to make agents more capable, supported, and credible — not to compete with them for consumer attention. Judges recognized that this philosophy, applied consistently at enterprise scale, is what distinguishes the Long & Foster submission.
"Clients don't choose their agent because of a brokerage logo or its app. They choose their agent because it's someone they know, like, and trust."
— Kathleen Wilks, CMO — Long & Foster Real Estate
Brand Design Gallery
Case Study Deep Dive
The Challenge
Unify the brand story of one of real estate's most recognized legacy companies — across 8 states, 6,000 agents, and nearly 60 years of accumulated identity — without losing what made the brand trusted in the first place. The company had grown. The story had not. Close that gap, and build a consistency infrastructure that could actually work at enterprise scale.
The Approach
The "It's the One" campaign gave Long & Foster a single organizing idea: ONE trusted company, ONE team, ONE seamless experience — what Long & Foster calls the All-Inclusive Real Estate Experience. The marketing team built centralized brand standards, digital asset management systems, approved templates, and standardized visual identity. Then reframed the rollout as empowerment rather than compliance: agents stopped seeing brand standards as rules and started seeing them as tools. AI was integrated for content development, communications, and training — and extended to agents as a practical way to give them time back for the relationships that actually win business.
"Agents no longer saw brand standards as a 'command-and-control' effort but as a way to empower them with better tools to build their brand."
— Kathleen Wilks, CMO — Long & Foster Real Estate
The Result
The 2025 Exhibit Awards Northeast Above 1,000 Agents recognition acknowledged what decades of brand stewardship look like when paired with the discipline to evolve. For a marketing team of 15 supporting 6,000 agents — work that happens largely behind the scenes and that other people get credit for — the award is external recognition of the work itself. "Marketing in real estate often happens behind the scenes. Our team works tirelessly to support thousands of agents, strengthen our brand, and help drive business results. Winning this award celebrates our collective creativity, resilience, and dedication."
Who Evaluated This Entry
%20(1).jpg)
Brand Spotlight Video
Kathleen Wilks on Refreshing a Nearly 60-Year Brand — and What "It's the One" Really Means
CMO Kathleen Wilks on the brand gap that drove the refresh, the mindset shift that made brand standards work for 6,000 agents, and why the companies that will win in real estate are the ones that align technology with genuine human relationships.
Kathleen Wilks — CMO, Long & Foster Real Estate
Is your brand next?
Submissions for the 2027 Exhibit Awards open later this year.
