Shov and tell as marketing master reveals his secrets.

Michael Shov believes in God. As he sits in his Fifth Avenue office overlooking real estate mogul, Donald Trump's tower, he thanks God for giving him a great business and a great life.

He says he's been trying to give back a lot of money to the community, supporting hospitals, schools and Jewish organizations because, he says, "You have to know how to be thankful when you have it, not only to ask for help when you need it."

It's a statement that many in the residential community may find surprising, coming from a man who's been dubbed The Assassin for his apparently ruthless pursuit of success in one of the most competitive, and cut-throat, businesses in the world.

But Shvo seems genuinely humbled as he charts his remarkable rise from crushed Israeli stockbroker to New York's marketing man of the moment.

In a matter of 10 short years, he has fast-talked his way to the very top of the business, cutting a swathe through his competition as he pounded the streets showing 40 rental apartments a day--he made 350 deals in his first year, all for under $2,000--en route to the number one spot at powerhouse brokerage, Prudential Douglas Elliman.

His journey from nobody to somebody has earned him the respect of a few and indignation of many who claim he stepped on too many manicured fingers to make friends in the business. A run-in with the Real Estate Board of New York's Ethics Committee in 2004 when he was ordered to take a 90-minute ethics course seemed to be all it took to cement his reputation as a rouge broker.

But it's all water off a duck's back to Shvo, who puts much of the criticism down to jealousy. "I know a lot of people still don't like me. I would bet my life that the people that do business with me would have nothing bad to say, but I can't control what people think."

Regardless of what other people thought of his sudden departure from PDE at the end of 2004, Shvo has always stated publicly that it was an amicable end to a good relationship that helped him make the money he needed to set up his own firm

"I left because I wanted to expand what I was already doing at PDE--marketing new developments," he recalls. "I have sold a tremendous amount of apartments in new developments and I was always perplexed by how poor the presentations were, how everything looked the same, how everyone did the same thing--and its not that they all just do the same thing, they have been doing it that way for 20 years.

"I was this little kid from Israel. I came here to the greatest city in the world and was looking at these new buildings that basically were all the same. I have to say, it was very disappointing to me and I made a decision that the same way I changed the residential real estate market, I would change the marketing of residential sales in New York. Everyone said I was crazy, why fix it is it's not broke, but I see the. world with different eyes."

Since setting up shop late 2004, Shvo's firm has amassed a multibillion dollar portfolio of projects that includes the rising Bryant Park Tower on Sixth Avenue, the Lumiere on West 53rd and the most recent development, Shaya Boymelgreen's 20 Pine, The Collection, the first luxury residential building with interior design by Armani/Casa.

His delight at the success of 20 Pine is evident. "That's a final product for me, my big vision. It's all about taking marketing and sales of new development to a new level, to address real estate not as four walls, a kitchen and bathroom, we need to address it as luxury brand. With that focus, it was easy for me to create buildings like 20 Pine, Jade, in Chelsea, 650 Sixth and 8 Union Square."

He says he has deliberately pursued developers who share his vision. "One of the biggest visionaries out there is Shaya Boymelgreen (20 Pine's developer). His is the most groundbreaking project you will ever see in real estate--taking an old office building, branding the building and bringing Armani Casa into the building, working on creating one of the most unique buildings in New York City today and then marketing it in a way that's never been seen in New York City, with an advertising, campaign that's spectacular and a vintage lifestyle magazine. There's an 8,000 s/f sales office in the building--that's a museum experience, not a sales experience."

Although visibly excited by his own vision of tomorrow's world, Shvo settles into a move sedate pace as he explains how those visionary developers understand that the "old school" of real estate marketing has ended. "There will always be the people, other firms, that continue to think if you build a sales office, give people some floor plans, renderings, a plasma TV, granite countertops and a Sub Zero fridge you can sell them a building, but that doesn't do it any more.

"People don't care about that. They want to buy into a brand, they want to buy something unique that they have that no one else has. That's something that most people out there don't understand. Most firms out there are not fully connecting with marketing new developments. In my world, brokerage houses should do what they do best; resell apartments, they shouldn't market new developments."

Along with the team of 27 that joined him when he left PDE, Shvo has surrounded himself with a staff that has a background in luxury brands. That way, he says, they haven't been doing what everyone else in the business has been doing.

The mantra in the office is "Mediocrity is a sin." Shov says he's turned down business because he felt the developer was creating a mediocre product. "We get to select the business we take on and we work with developers looking to create a unique concept with a unique marketing approach. We are not looking to do what another 10 buildings on the street are doing."

While the word "gimmick" has been banded about to describe last month's clash of the titans when Corcoran staged a show by superstar, Seal, to preview Extell's, The Avery, on the same night Shvo arranged a gig by Grammy winner, John Legend, at 20 Pine, Shvo himself scoffs at the thought. "People who have to use gimmicks are desperate--if you have a great product you don't have to have any gimmicks."

He predicts the proof will be evident when the market starts to split in two. "You're going to have unique product which is going to continue selling--like 20 Pine, 15 Central Park West, the Plaza Hotel, Jade--and on the other side, you will have the cookie-cutter, ordinary product that you can buy from anyone--those people will be forced to compete on price because people are going to buy from the guy with the best deal. 20 Pine, according to Shvo's count, is already roughly 50% sold out. He believes the conversion's groundbreaking IMAX sales presentation has been the deal-maker, adding, "Anyone visiting the 20 Pine sales office will never forget it.

"In today's market you have to be different. It starts from the very beginning when you select the building. Before even the architect or the designers were selected, we came up with a concept for the building, we did market research, analyzed deals, we planned marketing and sales campaigns, unit mixes, amenities, concierge service.

"We are there so early in the game we know the name of the guy who's going to buy that apartment, his age, where he hangs out--we have to know who we are selling to in order to create the right product for people. This notion of building it and they will buy is ridiculous--first you need to know who you are building for."

At just 33, Shvo says his age gives him a tremendous advantage over his competitors. "We are a young company and the buyers in today's market are in their 20s to early 40s."

Then he confesses, there's something he can't do. "If you asked me to sell apartments to people in their 60s, then I am not the right guy. I wouldn't know what someone that age wants."

But he quickly adds, "But there is none better at marketing to someone at the same social level and age group."