We're coming to the end of the second phase of our brand transition from ALM Media to Incisive Media. You'll recall that in the first phase (July) we changed our email addresses, added a footer to our outgoing emails describing our new branding, and began to notify the outside world about our new name. In this second phase, we've been expanding the program to put the Incisive logo on our publications, websites, stationary, business cards and other places. We'll soon launch a third phase where we focus on communicating not just that we've changed our name but what the new branding represents for our customers.

Mike Desiato, VP and Group Publisher for our Real Estate Division, devoted his column in our real estate publications this month to explaining the new branding to our readers. I like the column--particularly his answer to the question posed in the title--and thought you might enjoy reading it.

What’s Up With the Frog?

You’ve often heard me say this is a company on the move. Well, we’re on the move again, and Real Estate Media, home of trusted brands such as Real Estate Forum, Real Estate New Jersey, Real Estate New York, Real Estate Southern California, Real Estate Florida, GlobeSt.com and the RealShare Conference Series, is being re-branded Incisive Media.

The move comes after the UK-based company acquired REM and its parent, ALM, last August. Some of you have asked what impact this event will have on Real Estate Media, and specifically what the significance is of Incisive’s frog logo. According to Tim Weller, group chief executive of Incisive Media, “the logo is undoubtedly unique in the business-to-business publishing world. It is not the normal boring image you would think of when describing a global information business. Like our company and its people, the frog is friendly and fun, but above all energetic, moving forward and leapfrogging our competitors. It is not a toad—slimy, slow and unfriendly. Finally, the image is ideally suited to leaping across the pond.”

What does all of this mean to Real Estate Media and, more important, our customers? Here’s what it means: We have great brands, great people and an executive leadership team that is committed to our continued success. Yes, the name is changing, but you know us by our brands, and those are not going away. Rather, our new identity signifies a deepening of our resources and our growing ability to collaborate better across a wider range of geographies, markets and businesses for the benefit of our customers.

For our readers, this means expanded access to broader content in all the markets we serve. It means we can deliver to you information in the varied media you prefer, and the webinars you’ve tuned in to, to date, are only the start. Upcoming are plans for such platforms as digital, mobile, audio, video and social networking.

For our advertisers who use our trusted brands to reach their target audiences, as Incisive Media’s real estate group, we can deliver a larger global audience and an expanded array of lead-generating products and services.

But while embracing new formats, we’re not forgetting our roots, and plans are in place to advance our print and online offerings as well. Stay tuned. In all, we believe our re-branding positions us to overcome the global slowdown. It positions us to achieve our growth plans and challenges us to find new ways to meet the needs of our audience.

Our unification also brings another change, this to our email addresses. While the old emails will still work, you can see the new, preferred form on our masthead. You can check out more information and news about these exciting changes at our website, www.incisivemedia.com. We’re excited about our rebranding. We’re confident you’ll find it exciting too. There’s more to frogs than meets the eye.

--Michael G. Desiato