1. BUILDING A MAJOR GLOBAL BRAND
AND YOUR PART IN IT
RICS’ BRAND BOOK
rics.org
2. 02 Introduction
04 A unique opportunity
07 A piece of history
08 So what is a brand?
10 Some examples
12 Why be a brand?
14 RICS’ brand
20 Delivering the brand
TwoInternationalFinanceCentre,HongKong–22˚17'07.43''N114˚09'33.33''E
Your brand book 01For internal use only
3. RICSHQ–51˚30'03.59''N0˚07'41.10''W
Your brand book 03
Across every vista of our world, from the places
we live and work, to the places we travel to and
visit, RICS accredited professionals have been
instrumental in their creation and maintenance.
Welcome to the world of RICS.
This book is designed to provide a clear insight
into RICS’ brand and how we can all play our
part in living and communicating it.
02 Your brand book
5. We are the only organisation in the world that has
the potential to be the mark and voice of property
professionalism worldwide. Yet few people have a
clear view of what we do or know what we stand
for, so there's work to be done.
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RICS can trace its history right back to 1792 when the
Surveyors’ Club was formed in England. Although the
foundations of the current modern organisation really
started to take shape in 1868 when 20 surveyors met at
theWestminster Palace Hotel where, under the chairmanship
of John Clutton, the Surveyors’ Institution was founded.
It was incorporated by Royal Charter (pictured opposite)
in the UK in 1881, placing on it the responsibility to help
set, maintain and regulate standards within the property
profession, all to the public advantage.
Now, looking to the future, RICS has a unique opportunity,
building on its history and working with its members, to be
the global voice advancing standards and professionalism in
the world’s property markets.
1792 Surveyors’ Club formed
1868 Surveyors’ Institution founded
1881 Incorporated by Royal Charter
1946 ‘Royal’ title granted to become
the Royal Institution of
Chartered Surveyors. Coat
of arms and motto adopted:
There is measure in all things
06 Your brand book
An extract from RICS’ Royal Charter, incorporated in 1881:
The objects of the Institution shall be to secure the advancement
and facilitate the acquisition of that knowledge which constitutes the
profession of a surveyor, namely, the arts, sciences and practice of:
a. determining the value of all descriptions of landed and house
property and of the various interests therein and advising on direct
and indirect investment therein;
b. managing and developing estates and other business concerned
with the management of landed property;
c. securing the optimal use of land and its associated resources to
meet social and economic needs;
d. surveying the fabric of buildings and their services and advising on
their condition, maintenance, alteration, improvement and design;
e. measuring and delineating the physical features of the Earth;
f. managing, developing and surveying mineral property;
g. determining the economic use of resources of the construction
industry, and the financial appraisal, management and
measurement of construction work;
h. selling (whether by auction or otherwise) buying or letting, as an
agent, real or personal property or any interest therein and to
maintain and promote the usefulness of the profession to the
public advantage.
6. Put simply, a brand is a set of expectations in the mind
of everyone we come into contact with.
An organisation with a strong brand has a clear vision
at its core – which influences every single facet of the
business from the inside out.
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This model describes the dynamic that generates
high performance in an organisation and its relationship
to the use of the brand.
SO WHAT IS A BRAND?
or a colour, or a design, or an advertising campaign or a slogan
or sign-off line. Although all of these are important.
The graphic elements that make up our visual identity help
people to recognise which brand they are looking at, aiding
rapid recognition, but they are not the actual brand itself.
This is more to do with what we stand for as an organisation,
how we behave and our corporate personality.
08 Your brand book
There are many misconceptions about
what a brand is. So perhaps it is easiest
to say what a brand isn’t.
A brand is…
7. Make people smile Robin Hood Tools for
creative minds
Wire free world
We too have a unique story to tell about what makes
us special. We hope this book will guide and inspire
you to tell our story in all that you do.
Your brand book 11
To help appreciate the role the core brand vision can
play in an organisation just take a look at these other
well-known brands and their internal brand propositions.
In each example, it has been applied in a single-minded
way, ensuring that most of us can appreciate what
their brands stand for and what to expect.
You’ll also notice that each of the following sentences
are not slogans and do not appear on their advertising.
Each one is a shared internal vision which drives their
businesses and provides a single-minded focus.
We at RICS have to do the same thing to enable us to
become the brand leader in the property profession.
SOME EXAMPLES
10 Your brand book
8. Your brand book 13
The importance of meeting expectations
Expectations of quality, ethics, or good service are important
for a brand – no more so in such an important arena as the
property sector. The higher these expectations, as a rule, the
greater the margin – which is important for our members and
why RICS members are often able to attract higher fees than
their competitors. This in turn ensures that more and more
of the world’s property professionals will want to join RICS,
which makes us stronger and more influential.
Brand reputation and recognition can be a powerful selling tool,
embodying values or emotions that are globally universal.
Brands define the relationships between an organisation and its
constituents – in our case our members and other stakeholder
groups like employers, governments and other bodies.
Brands also find it easier to attract the best talent, which means
we will also benefit from enhanced intellectual capital and so will
our members.
All of this helps to create a powerful and harmonious
‘virtuous circle’, which benefits everyone.
12 Your brand book
These days it isn’t enough just to exist. To survive,
grow and flourish you have to be a brand.
So we already have all the right credentials to be the pre-eminent
organisation of our kind in every country around the world, in
each and every sector of the property market. We have the right
culture and attitude, we have a clear vision, and we have a
capable and ambitious team. But we also need to ensure that we
communicate a single-minded vision of what we are, to everyone
we and our members deal with, to ensure that we optimise our
position and our credibility in every corner of the planet.
In other words we need to build a major global brand; we
need to become the undisputed brand leader in our sector –
raising the status of the property profession, which will help
establish consistent standards around the world, which will help
those people and organisations that need the very best advice
when it comes to property.
“Branding is a natural, instinctive
human creation. A way of making
a complicated world simpler. With a
brand, you get a symbol, a cue – you
know what you’re getting, you know
what to expect.” Niall Fitzgerald, Unilever
WHY BE A BRAND?
Why be a brand leader?
Brand leaders endure. They stand the test of time. They are
innovative. Instead of being reactive they set the pace and
lead the way. They set the benchmarks when it comes to
quality and best practice.
9. The brand definition process
To clearly define RICS’ brand, we carried out a brand audit to
identify and corroborate current perceptions and expectations.
This took the form of a series of brand definition workshops
to which a large number of employees, from every part of the
organisation, were invited.
To capture the output from these workshops, we used what
is known as a brand framework. There are various brand
frameworks we can use – in our case we used a brand
thumbprint. This is essentially just a series of rings that enables
us to hold all of the values that make up our organisation and
that makes RICS’ brand unique.
The core is the most important element of all – it’s our shared
internal vision which drives all our businesses including DRS,
RICS Books, BCIS and isurv. The core provides us with our
own single-minded focus.
Why build a brand framework?
To make the invisible
VISIBLE
in everything we do
Core
What we do: The key things that RICS does, expressed in short factual statements.
Benefits: What are the benefits?
Values: What does the organisation hold to be important and what drives its behaviour?
Personalities: If RICS were a person what identifiable and discriminating characteristics
would it have?
Core: A concise phrase defining what drives the organisation, what’s its core purpose.
Personality
Values
Benefits
What we do
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RICS’ BRAND
14 Your brand book
As you can see, brands are valuable assets. To be
able to build RICS into the global brand leader in the
property profession we all need to understand what
RICS’ brand stands for and your part in helping to
build it around the world.
“RICS is the only international organisation
that brings together professionals from all
the spheres of the property sector, and
therefore guarantees qualification, fairness
and capability.”
Philippe Winssinger FRICS, DTZ Winssinger Tie Leung, Brussels, Belgium
10. Personality
Values*
– Passionate when it comes to setting and promoting standards
– Constantly innovating to improve our service
– Driven to do things better
*We are continuing to work on our values so look out for more on this on @ne.
Personality
– Warm in our dealings with those we serve and each other
– Firm in applying standards but not at the expense of common sense
– Intellectually able
– Responsive to the needs of others, both within and without the Institution
Core
Core proposition
Advancing standards and professionalism
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Values
The one thing it is safe to say is that everyone who works at
RICS has a view about what RICS is, what it does and what
it stands for. We captured these views through staff workshops
and, whilst there were many views, they were consistent.
This gave us the ideal foundation on which to build a clear,
compelling and engaging brand proposition and enabled us
to create our own brand thumbprint.
RICS’ BRAND
Our thumbprint
Benefits
What we do
– Set and maintain high quality qualifications and standards
– Promote RICS and the profession to build influence, credibility and profile
– Provide best advice to members, governments, NGOs, decision-makers
– Recruit and retain members
– Support and provide and sell products and services to members,
non-members and other customers
– Regulate members in a way that enhances professional regulation
– Promote careers in surveying to develop membership
and in so doing we seek to serve and protect the public interest.
Benefits
Consumer
General Public
– Reassurance
– Free information and advice
– Redress
Businesses
– Commercial advantage
16 Your brand book
What we do
Members
– Status
– Commercial advantage
– Keep in the know and up to speed
– Profile
– Work easier, faster, better
Government and other Bodies
– Expertise
– Objectivity
– Convenience
11. Whilst we are high status we aren’t flashy and gratuitous like
Lamborghini. Equally, whilst we have a modern, straight-forward
outlook, we aren’t like Smart Car or Mini either. If we were a car
we would be more like Mercedes-Benz.
Here are a few examples of some well known brands that we
are like or not like to help give you a clear indication of the type
of organisation we are – modern and highly professional.
They should help you to judge whether something that seems
appropriate – be it your everyday behaviour, attitudes,
relationships or day to day communications – is actually
‘on brand’.
If you don’t feel that Mercedes, HSBC or Waitrose would act in
a specific way, then the chances are that RICS shouldn’t be
either. All of these brands, like us, have a long heritage but have
evolved over time to remain constantly relevant to their markets.
WHAT RICS IS LIKE AS A BRAND
RICS’ qualification ensures
and confers the most elite
professional standards
and status. This said,
we are friendly, open
and approachable and
not stuffy, old fashioned
or stuck in the past.
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We aren’t like
Smart Car
Egg
Swatch
Walmart
Lidl
Easy Jet
We are like
Mercedes
HSBC
Omega
John Lewis
Waitrose
Emirates
We aren’t like
Lamborghini
Rothschild
Cartier
Harrods
Fortnum & Mason
Avolus Private Jets
12. How we behave
Ourcorepurp
ose
The wa
y
welookandfeel
DELIVERING THE BRAND
20 Your brand book
All of us have contributed to RICS’ achievements and
success to date and we are the foundation for the next
chapter in our history.
To be a global brand leader we must act like one. We must
be true to all elements of our brand as detailed in this book,
particularly our core proposition of advancing standards
and professionalism.
By clarifying who we are and what we do, this book is just
one step to help us on our way.
There are other ways we can all deliver the brand and the
values it represents and you’ll be hearing about these
separately:
Our core purpose: Brand Book
The way we look and feel: Visual identity
and style guidelines
How we behave: There will be more work over the coming
months on the behaviours and actions that help bring the
brand to life. Look out for updates and examples on @ne.
The ideas in this book are just the beginning, now it’s
your turn…
Your brand book 21
13. rics.org
Advancing standards in land, property and construction.
RICS is the world’s leading qualification when it comes to professional standards in land,
property and construction.
In a world where more and more people, governments, banks and commercial organisations
demand greater certainty of professional standards and ethics, attaining RICS status is the
recognised mark of property professionalism.
Over 100 000 property professionals working in the major established and emerging
economies of the world have already recognised the importance of securing RICS status by
becoming members.
RICS is an independent professional body originally established in the UK by Royal Charter.
Since 1868, RICS has been committed to setting and upholding the highest standards of
excellence and integrity – providing impartial, authoritative advice on key issues affecting
businesses and society.
RICS is a regulator of both its individual members and firms enabling it to maintain the highest
standards and providing the basis for unparalleled client confidence in the sector.
RICS has a worldwide network. For further information simply contact the relevant RICS office
or our Contact Centre.
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London SW1P 3AD
United Kingdom
Worldwide media enquiries:
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