Knight Frank (KF) has hired an external brand consultant to work on the image of its private clients’ buying department.
It is using Zulver & Co to consider how the London-based department – which handles house purchases for high-net-worth individuals too busy to look for their own homes – can be revamped.
One option being considered is to base the department, headed by Robert Bailey, outside Knight Frank’s offices and give it a separate name in a bid to boost its perceived independence.
KF is understood to favour “The Buying Service” as its new name.
This would emulate FPDSavills, which successfully rebranded its buying department as Prime Purchase and moved it to a separate office.
Prime Purchase moved from its Savills building and dropped the parent firm’s name from letterheads and business cards.
Its subsidiary status allows it to charge a fee even if the property is being marketed by FPDSavills’ own sales division, which in turn charges the seller a fee on the same property.
Knight Frank is expected to launch the new-look department in September.
References: EGi News 23/08/04
