“What’s in a name?” It has been asked before, and there have been some pretty good answers to this question over the years. This question is multi-dimensional, interwoven, and extremely complex. “What’s in a name, who are you, and what are you all about?”

Complicated question, but glad you asked!

Craft & Bauer Real Estate Co. was just an idea between two ambitious, eclectic, yet frustrated individuals. Both came from a real estate background, had a good head on their shoulders, and were ethical in their practices as real estate agents, but there was always something missing. “How do we define US?” “How do we accomplish something bigger in life than just US?” “Why don’t WE do something about it?”

To provide you with a bit of background on who Craft & Bauer is, let’s first define the name. What does “Craft” and “Bauer” mean?

Craft is, well, a craft. The art of selling real estate is a craft, and it takes patience, persistence, and diligence to develop. Having a real estate license does not mean that you’ve mastered the craft of selling real estate, not in the slightest. It’s a tough craft, it’s a beautiful craft, and it’s a word that we hold to an extremely high standard.

“Bauer” (noun) is an old, German word for Farmer (it’s also the 517th most common surname in the United States). Either way, it’s an old word. Why this old word? Well, who has a better work ethic than a farmer?

Farmers are up every day well before the sun comes up, and rain or shine. They do their job, and do it right. Not only do they do their job right, but they take pride in their craft. Their crops don’t grow overnight; they take time to grow and develop, and it takes a skilled, patient and diligent farmer to yield a group of crops. It takes a special kind of person to be a farmer, and it takes a special kind of real estate agent to be a Craft & Bauer Estate Agent.

The words Craft & Bauer live in unison, they are perpetual, and they define our Estate Agents.

After we established our name and identity, it was time to figure out how to translate this thesis to some sort of representational logo and visual concept. What animal, color, and/or abstract figure most closely represents us, who we are, and where we want to go?

To my surprise (and to Dominic’s credit), we settled on a rooster. Yes, a rooster. Why a rooster? Well, think about it: roosters are farm animals, but not just that - they are THE first animal awake every morning. They are proud birds, and they take strong command of the farm every day by waking up all living creatures within a decibel earshot of this glorious bird. They have confidence, they are not shy, and from what our non-zoological brains tell us, they’re smart birds. Who better to represent the Craft & Bauer thesis than the rooster?

After finalizing our feathered friend, we realized that we needed to tie in some sort of real estate ethos into our branding. We also couldn’t have our rooster floating in space, so we decided to kill two birds (pardon the bird puns) with one stone. We decided to perch our rooster on a key. And not just any key – an intricate skeleton key. Who doesn’t love a well-executed and sexy skeleton key. But it’s more than a “thing”, it represents a journey. It opens doors to new possibilities, and represents change. In our real estate world, keys are the first tangible item that the homebuyer receives after closing on a house. It represents the end and beginning of a long and fulfilling process.

So that’s it. That’s how a concept’s elements blossomed into something more concrete and tangible. There were many, many, many iterations of the brand, the logo, and the name, and the brand continues to evolve each and every day.

I’ll continue to drop blog posts from time to time around the inception of the brand, the achievements of our office, as well as some behind the scenes content. For now, thanks for reading, and drop us a comment. We love to get to know our audience.

Much love,

Max

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