Halstead hooked up to put real in real estate.

Diane Ramirez, president of Halstead Property, announced that the 21-year-old company is undergoing a major brand platform update in a bid to gain momentum in the highly-competitive New York City real estate arena.

The multi-million dollar re-branding will feature a new advertising campaign, storefront advancements, a revamped company logo, a re-designed website and focus on maximized online presence.

"After 21 years, we thought it was time to reinvigorate our brand to get the message out that we are the leader in the high-end residential marketplace," said Ramirez.

Although coming hard on the heels of last month's re-branding by the megalith Corcoran Group, the campaign is substantially different, according to Ramirez.

"The only similarity is [the advertising campaign] is black and white," she said.

"While Corcoran's campaign is focused on lifestyle, ours is focused on listening to the client and giving them the tools they need and the resources they need to reach a solution."

She said the timing of the Halstead announcement was purely coincidental, adding that company executives have been studying the operations of the firm and how to capitalize on its strengths since it was bought by Terra Holdings in 2001.

"We were purchased five years ago and spent the first few years focusing on our infrastructure and making sure we had the tools and equipment that our internal customers--our agents--needed," explained Ramirez. Once she was sure her agents were among the most well-tooled and best educated in the business, Ramirez said the focus was put on getting the message out to the wider community that "what we were internally was what the public saw."

With the slogan "How Real Estate Gets Real" the campaign will include major upgrades to storefronts, an area in which Halstead was an undoubted pioneer.

Each store front video display will have interactive technology that allows customers to decide what properties are displayed on the screens. Customers can select using Blackberries, Treos or even a cell phone and they can automatically send a message to Halstead brokers about any property they are interested in.

A redesigned website will operate 25 times faster than the old system and the company will introduce interactive website floor plans that enable online space planning, directional tools and area maps.

Halstead has also doubled its spending on search engines and Internet Search Protocols for sites such as Google, Yahoo and NetZero.

The campaign was created by branding firm, POOL, whose creative director, Keith Whitmer, Said the platform speaks to Halstead's history of innovation and integrity while underscoring the substantive improvements for both customers and brokers.

Kent Swig, co-chairman of Terra Holdings was decidedly more blunt about any comparisons with competing firms. "Our campaign is about specifics, not fluff. We are saying what, as a company, we do for individuals. We give them access to information and the tools they need to make an educated decision about buying a property.

"Our ads show real people who are saying 'I don't want to be given the run-around and I don't want to be treated like a number.'

"We have spent the last five years building a phenomenal infrastructure and we are now acting on what we have done. The campaign reflects a company that is much greater than the sum of its parts."