Industry: real estate
Southern Land Company
VanTrust Real Estate, one of the nation’s leading private developers based in Kansas City, Mo., hired Cooksey in 2019 to assist with the company’s expansion into the competitive Texas commercial real estate market. The company expanded into several sub-markets, including Austin, San Antonio, El Paso and Fort Worth, among others.
industry
- real estate
services
- communications assessments & planning
- marketing strategy & planning
- media relations
- public involvement & stakeholder engagement
- thought leadership positioning
the challenge
Build an Enduring Media and Brand Presence in New Markets
VanTrust works nationally as a full-service real estate development company with regional offices in Columbus, Dallas, Phoenix and Jacksonville. Cooksey quickly identified who could be VanTrust’s brand ambassadors in their preferred expansion areas within Texas.
the strategy
Leverage the VanTrust Story through Several Industry and Regional Growth Trends
Cooksey’s real estate practice group developed a strategy to launch the company in each of those sub-markets, leveraging media relationships and building upon the company’s stellar reputation within the industry. Beyond securing transactional media coverage of significant real estate projects, Cooksey secured digital and print advertising, coordinated membership and sponsorship efforts with regional civic and trade groups and drafted numerous successful industry award nominations.
the solution
Execute an Integrated Marketing Communications Plan
After a five-year effort, VanTrust executives have become highly sought-out thought leaders for regional publications and event panels, providing commentary and market expertise within the statewide commercial real estate landscape.
Hillwood is one of the nation’s largest developers of commercial, residential and industrial real estate. To bring wider attention to one of Texas’ premier economic engines, Hillwood has retained Cooksey Communications for more than a decade to promote the company’s internationally acclaimed, 27,000-acre master-planned development, AllianceTexas. As AllianceTexas has expanded during that time, Cooksey has managed the development’s strategic communications efforts, implementing an ever-evolving strategy that continues to keep the mixed-use inland port at the forefront of the business media landscape.
industry
- real estate
services
- communications assessments & planning
- corporate social responsibility
- creative services – web and digital
- crisis communications & issues management
- internal communications
- key message development
- marketing strategy & planning
- media relations
- public involvement & stakeholder engagement
- special events
- thought leadership positioning
the challenge
Build an Enduring Media and Brand Presence During Multiple Business Cycles
The AllianceTexas mixed-use development and inland port is one of the most unique and successful real estate projects in the U.S., comprised of industrial, Class A office/campus, residential, retail, multifamily and aviation asset classes. Even with all of its success as a global corporate destination, the Texas market does experience cyclical shifts in its real estate market. Cooksey was engaged by Hillwood in 2011, during the peak of the financial crisis and has remained the company’s day-to-day public relations consultant throughout North Texas’s exponential growth period and during the global pandemic. With many competing business stories in a market as large as Dallas-Fort Worth, the challenge has been to keep sustained media interest in the development over the span of two decades.
the strategy
Leverage the AllianceTexas Story through Several Industry and Regional Growth Trends
Throughout its role as day-to-day public relations counsel for AllianceTexas, the Cooksey team has developed messaging, media outreach materials, and creative pieces designed to demonstrate Hillwood’s leadership not only within the real estate community, but also as a business innovator on the leading-edge of global industry. From 2011-2016, Hilllwood brought three significant corporate campus projects to AllianceTexas, including Charles Schwab Corp.’s global headquarters, Deloitte University and Mercedes Benz Credit Services. Meta developed one of the world’s largest data centers at the development in 2016, while Amazon Air located a significant air operations facility at Fort Worth Alliance Airport. And, in the 2020s, Hillwood launched the Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ) at AllianceTexas, which has become a key component of the development’s Smart Port platform.
the solution
Execute an Integrated Marketing Communications Plan that Yields Big Results
By connecting the AllianceTexas story to the exponential growth happening in North Texas, Hillwood has benefited from international, national and regional media stories generated by Cooksey showcasing the development as a key corporate destination and an integral component of the U.S. supply chain. Hillwood has received countless awards for their projects and executive leadership, which Cooksey has helped to facilitate. Cooksey’s creative team has also managed important branding projects for AllianceTexas, including the long-running AllianceTexas Magazine, E-newsletters, brochures, video productions and digital marketing strategies.
