All right, everybody. I saw on the news that Yellow had gone out of business, and I didn’t think much of it because I didn’t know anything about Yellow. Then, I found out that Yellow is Schwans! Do you remember Schwans? I think part of the reason Yellow went out of business is because no one understood the brand. Why did they change?
In my business, branding is an interesting thing. When I started Deerwood Realty, I wanted to promote Deerwood Realty all the time because I thought I’d have all these agents, and we were going to go up against the established brands in residential real estate. I quickly realized that wasn't going to work. Unless you have billions of dollars, your brand isn’t going to carry you. People invest in other people.
At that point, I started running everything on the agent side under 'John Schink.' If you’re working with Deerwood Realty, you’re working with John Schink. The idea that a company would operate for 80 years under the Schwans name and then change to Yellow in 2022, leaving people unaware of who Yellow was, is baffling. When I read the press releases, they said the Yellow name was chosen to highlight their truck color. This is going to be studied in business schools forever as a colossal mistake.
Now, I feel bad for the employees and those who lost their jobs — that’s terrible. But this idea of corporate rebranding? If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. This was dumb. Colossally dumb.
On a side note, you’ll never see me change the brokerage. It’s always going to be Deerwood Realty. My brokerage is named after the street where I started the business, so I have no interest in changing it. When you’re working with someone in a real estate transaction, whether you’re buying or selling a house, there’s a person in front of you. It might be a relative, a friend, a family member, or someone you met online, but it’s a person.
That’s why I’ve always been skeptical of agents who feel like they need a brand behind them. To me, it shows a bit of insecurity. Why do you need a brand to sell real estate? Can’t you do it on your own? What does the brand do for you? You should think about that when considering jumping ship. Is the brand helping or hurting you?
There are certain brands in St. Louis where, if you say you’re from that brand, people immediately think, 'I don’t want to deal with that person.' Anyway, that’s what I have for you today. The bird has been really noisy, and my wife somehow left the cover where I can’t find it. So, that’s what we’re dealing with now. Hope you have a good rest of your day. Bye.