Building on a legacy and forging ahead, The Group, Inc. has merged three departments under an umbrella of innovation and collaboration.
As always, The Group is breaking new ground as we roll into a new year. Since the company’s founding more than four decades ago, the employee-owned business has watched the industry, listened to its partners, and embraced adaptation to remain on the cutting-edge. And 2019 is no different as The Group adopts some bittersweet, but ultimately exciting, changes.
In the wake of Helen Gray’s retirement (which you can read about here), The Group is building on her foundation of grassroots, network-driven marketing and surging into the future. By merging three departments — marketing, technology and relocation — into one, the company will be able to deliver an experience that’s modern and more collaborative than ever. Since the departments had already been overlapping for some time, formalizing the structure and housing the new department at the centralized Harmony Office simply creates a more unified front that will streamline workflow.
And with the exception of Gray, they’ve retained the talented teams that helped make the company’s marketing, tech and relocation departments what they are today. Tom Flanagan — The Group’s Chief Technology Officer since 2017 — will be the one overseeing the new department as he steps into his role as Chief Innovation Officer. Bringing more than 20 years of experience in marketing, relocation and technology from coast to coast, he was a natural fit to bring these departments together under a single umbrella.
“Tom is a visionary thinker in the real estate space,” says Wells. “He’s got a diverse experience set making him a great candidate to run these departments together seamlessly. He’s been named one of the 50 most influential people in real estate, and there’s a reason for that notoriety. He has a vision and has always been on the bleeding edge. He tests new mediums, new ideas, and that ultimately leads to new breakthroughs. That’s what our company was founded upon, and what we’ve always sought to do as we move forward.”
Flanagan has already launched innovative marketing content, from the new in-house video department to an enhanced focus on digital marketing, design and emerging platforms. In addition, by looping in relocation, where e-business and Internet leads are generated, the new department will be more focused on the consumer experience and bolstering agents’ businesses.
But, Flanagan stresses, this new approach isn’t so much a shake-up as the next logical step in a legacy built by Gray, whose expertise in grassroots and word-of-mouth marketing made her an innovator in her own right. “Essentially, I’m hoping to build upon the strong foundation that Helen built at The Group over the past four decades,” he says. “I believe the combination of marketing, technology and relocation will illuminate our grassroots marketing efforts and bring greater value to our clients. That’s always been a sweet spot for The Group. It’s in our DNA.”
You can learn more about Tom Flanagan here.
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