When Bob Goldberg was named NAR CEO in 2017, it was with a pledge to move the association boldly into the future while honoring the successes of the past. Today, the association took a symbolic step, announcing the evolution of the iconic REALTOR® brand. The trademark “block R,” launched in 1973, will be transformed beginning this June into a three-dimensional logo.
The new brand retains a comforting familiarity, employing the blue color palette and Futura Black “R” that has graced REALTOR® pins, signs, and business cards for 45 years. But the “R” has been slightly altered and the flat background raised to denote that NAR and its members are “multi-dimensional, dynamic, and future focused.”
“The evolution of the REALTOR® brand reinforces who we are as an organization, an unrivaled advocate and trusted resource in real estate, growing and adapting to the changing demographics and needs of today’s buyers, sellers, and investors,” says NAR President Elizabeth Mendenhall, CEO of RE/MAX Boone Realty and a sixth-generation REALTOR® from Columbia, Mo. “It expresses the role that REALTORS® play in a meaningful and deeply emotional milestone in life. We are helping clients achieve their hopes and dreams.”
Along with the membership mark, the NAR logo is changing. It will incorporate the three-dimensional mark and shift from the elegant Garamond font to a more contemporary sans serif font, Montserrat.
The branding changes are part of a series of breaks from the past since Goldberg became CEO last August, including a major staff restructuring and across-the-board cost-cutting. All the changes, Goldberg says, are aimed at making NAR a nimbler, more member-centric organization.
“Technology, shifting market conditions, and consumers are reshaping the real estate industry at a breakneck pace,” Goldberg says. “The new brand embodies the association’s rich history, but better reflects our forward-thinking focus and how we’ll stay ahead of industry evolution and disruption and continue to lead the real estate industry in the years ahead.”
NAR filed an application this morning with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to trademark the new membership mark and company logo. NAR will begin the transition in early June when new brand guidelines are released; members and associations that use the membership mark are asked to incorporate the new branding by December 2019. To learn more, visit nar.realtor/brand.
—REALTOR® Magazine
