LOS ANGELES—Be prepared to hear a lot more about advantages in coming months. The concept lies at the heart of a new global branding campaign CBRE is launching today. “Transforming real estate into real advantage” will be the rallying cry, along with the tagline, “Build on Advantage.” The campaign will entail much more than print and web advertising, according to chief marketing officer Paul Suchman.

Eleven months in the making, the program will not only touch on the above mentioned advertising channels but will also be incorporated into internal and external communication and across CBRE's regional websites around the world. It will also play a prominent role in case histories that will, in Suchman's words “be celebrated” both within the halls of the firm and for its clients' awareness. The branding will also figure heavily in CBRE's social media presence, including Twitter and Facebook. Results will be audited periodically for impact.

“We want to be known as a world-class real estate services and investment firm,” Suchman told GlobeSt.com in an exclusive interview in the days leading up to the launch. Real estate is generally considered a cost center for most corporations, he explained. “We believe real estate is a strategic differentiator with the potential and power to deliver transformational business value.”

Toward that end, while keeping a focus on the corporate head of real estate, the firm will now be spreading the gospel of real estate to the entire C-suite. “We want to speak with a voice of advice and counsel.”

“With our new positioning, we've created an organizing principle for the brand that supports our core strategy of producing distinct advantages for all our stakeholders,” said president and CEO Bob Sulentic.

But the branding is more than catchy slogans. Through most of 2014, Suchman and his team surveyed more than 60 CBRE employees and nearly 30 clients on the messaging the firm was putting out and how it was being perceived. The research also included reviews of internal and external communications to evaluate the consistency of the messaging.

The marketing officer explained that the firm also took a close look, of course, at how competitors were marketing themselves and concluded that it needed to align itself with “the branding principles of world-class services firms. Real estate companies send out essentially the same message.” Meanwhile, those service firms use their branding to effectively set themselves apart. He used UPS, with its ownership of the concept of logistics, as just one example.

“We want to own the concept of 'advantage,'” Suchman concluded.