A Name in 2016!

How do Al Jolson, The Beatles, Wilson Phillips, and Adele connect to the association’s history? Loosely, but stick with me.

Each were top artists the years that we had a name change. Here’s a quick history:

• 1920 — The association was founded as the Boise Realty Board and Al Jolson’s “Swanee” was all the rage.
• 1964 — The Beatles topped the charts with “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and the name was changed to the Boise Board of REALTORS®.
• 1990 — The name shifted to the Ada County Association of REALTORS® and Wilson Phillips encouraged everyone to “Hold On”… for one more day.
• 2016 — And now, just a few weeks into 2016, we’re getting ready to change the name once again, this time to Boise Regional REALTORS®. All while Adele’s “Hello” is being played errywhere.

If you listen to these songs back-to-back, you can clearly hear how music styles changed over time, yet every song is focused on the same thing — relationships. Sort of like real estate. Business practices evolve and shift year-after-year, yet the agent-client relationship always remains central.

And as the business evolves, so must the association. Past name changes were done to incorporate the term “REALTOR®” or to represent the market’s expanding geography. Geography is part of this change, too. Our members don’t just do business in Ada County and our name must reflect the market in which they live and work. But beyond geography, this name change is being done with a focus on our members and the relationships they have with their clients.

First, re-introducing “Boise” into our name will allow us to tap into efforts by the Boise Valley Economic Partnership (BVEP) and the Visitors Bureau, as they work to “brand” our region in the minds of people across the country. Doing so will improve the association’s consumer outreach initiatives, done on behalf of our members. For example, when people move here, they likely start searching “boise homes for sale,” not “ada county homes for sale” — see:

Source: google.com/trends/explore; Data generated January 31, 2016.

Once consumers get a sense of what’s in and around Boise, they expand their search to surrounding cities, or narrow in on neighborhoods, looking for REALTORS® who can help them through the process.

Our new name will better connect with consumers during this process, providing them with information on the value that REALTORS® bring to the transaction, and facilitating connections between consumers and REALTORS® both online and in the community.

Also, a name change also allows us to refresh the strategic focus and “personality” of the association. (Like how we now make Wilson Phillips references in our blog posts!) Kidding aside, it’s an exciting time for the organization, and we’re looking forward to rolling out new programs throughout the year.

It will take some getting used to the new name, Boise Regional REALTORS®, or Boise Regional or “B-R-R” for short, so if you happen to refer to us as ACAR, it’s ok. It will also take us some time to catch all the old logos and name references on our website and other materials. We think we’ve found most of them, but if you find any, please let us know.

Finally, watch our website — boirealtors.com — and updated Facebook and Twitter profiles for some of the fun things we have planned to celebrate the new name throughout February and 2016.