Boroughs & Burbs, the National Real Estate Conversation

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Bess Freedman, CEO of Brown Harris Stevens with 
Matt Leone, Chief Marketing Officer of Brown Harris Stevens on 
The Importance of Branding and the Evolving Business of Real Estate

The real estate business has gone through some massive changes in the last few years and most of those changes start in New York. We have some new brands emerging while some of the industry's oldest and most established brands have only gotten stronger. How does two of the top branding experts in the industry think about these changes? We have been wanting to have this conversation for a year, ever since Brown Harris Stevens and Halstead decided to merge, a decision that came shortly after those firms reinvented its brand with award-winning new looks.

Just a few of the topics we'd like to explore:
- How are the markets BHS operates in performing right now 
- Effective marketing strategies over the last year
- How do you establish consistent brand messaging across five states and then reinforce brand standards across 55 offices and over 2,300 agents?
- Critical mass. How important is it to be a big firm with a global presence?
- The messaging steps of merging two established brands into one
- Brown Harris Stevens was established in 1873. Why is that important when some of our newest competitors were only invented yesterday?

Bess Freedman 
Bess oversees Brown Harris Stevens’ 55 offices and more than 2,300 agents across New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Florida. Under her leadership, Brown Harris Stevens has grown into one of the largest and most successful privately held real estate companies in the United States. She is deeply committed to creating a culture-first firm for the future while staying true to Brown Harris Stevens’ unique history and unparalleled brand. Bess originally joined Brown Harris Stevens in 2013 to oversee business development. She enjoys being a trusted resource and finding creative solutions to every situation, particularly new ways to pitch and market listings, to coach agents through difficult negotiations, and to provide the best technology and tools to elevate the entire real estate process. Her insights are frequently sought out by media including CNBC, Bloomberg, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. Formerly Co-President of Brown Harris Stevens, and a Senior Managing Director of the Corcoran Group's East Side headquarters, Bess brings to her real estate career top professionalism, interpersonal skills and negotiating savvy that are well respected by her industry peers and agents alike. A former agent herself, Bess achieved repeated membership in Corcoran’s Multi-Million-Dollar Club thanks to her exemplary customer service, knowledge of the market and results. 

Matt Leone
Matthew Leone brings a fresh, unconventional perspective coupled with an extensive knowledge base of digital marketing and business development techniques to Brown Harris Stevens serving as the firm's Chief Marketing Officer. Matthew oversees a Marketing/Business Development Team responsible for the creative marketing techniques for its agents, unique brand partnerships, technology solutions for agents, and much more. He is passionate about staying on top of the latest trends & integrating innovative solutions into all forms of marketing, branding and business development.

Matthew was previously Halstead Real Estate's Chief Brand and Marketing Officer making them one of the first firms to embrace such forms as video, social media, drones, 3D, VR, wearables, partnerships, and many other ground-breaking approaches. 

Matthew was also recently named to the WSJ CMO Council. He recently served two terms on the Technology Advisory Council for Leading RE  as well as the Inman News Content Advisory Board. In 2018, Matthew was the recipien