Previous In this conversation with HousingWire’s Allison LaForgia, James Wong, CEO & Founder of MAXA Designs, reflected on the winners of the 2025 Exhibit Awards announced at The Gathering, and explained what separates standout real estate and mortgage brands from forgettable ones. He emphasized that today’s strongest brands are built on far more than logos and visual branding.
“The exhibit awards ecosystem was built on the idea that branding is more than aesthetics. It’s business infrastructure,” Wong said, explaining the philosophy behind the Exhibit Awards, which now feature “400 of the biggest brands in real estate and mortgage.”
Wong explained that the Exhibit Awards judging criteria are intentionally structured around what actually defines great branding. “There’s storytelling,” he said, noting that it includes “the functional,” “the emotional,” and “the social kind of validation piece as well.”
As competition intensifies, mortgage branding and real estate marketing are becoming increasingly tied to consistency, trust and community connection. “There’s the functional… how do you do things better than your competition? Then there’s… emotionally. How are you presenting this brand that I’m emotionally touched by? And then the third piece is the social kind of validation piece as well… how are you designing your brand to socially be a part and engage with the community that you want to serve?”
Wong said the strongest brands succeed because they execute consistently across every customer touchpoint. “This could be print, social, your office, design space, your website, of course, your video marketing, the way you engage your communities, your community outreach,” he said. “We’re looking at all those pieces.”
For Wong, effective brand strategy in mortgage and real estate extends far beyond individual campaigns or visuals. He described standout branding as “a visual architecture” or “a visual system” that eventually becomes immersive. “I want the best brands — when you see the brand, it’s a world,” Wong said. “It’s like Disneyland, right? You walk into Disney World… you know you’re about to walk into a universe that’s all Disney.”
That level of recognition has become a major differentiator across mortgage branding and real estate marketing. “People spend 20 hours, 30 hours on a proper presentation,” he said. “It’s a 50-page keynote on why they should win.”
“And when you see the submission, it is a world,” he continued. “I see the most insane art installations with the brand, where they’re blending their colors and their lifestyle and their mission statement and their values all inside of one incredible world.”
The conversation also focused on why smaller independent firms are increasingly competing with enterprise brands. Wong pointed to passion and community connection as major differentiators. “The ones that are the most passionate, they find every detail to brand everything,” he said. “Any chance they can get to brand it, they brand it.”
Wong noted that “more than 51% of agents hang their license with an independent,” adding that independents often succeed because “they focus on the brand very well inside of their community.”
For many independents, localized real estate marketing has become a significant competitive advantage.“The good independent brands do that very well,” he said. “They’re very specific on how they connect to their community.”
Leadership, he argued, remains central to brand identity. “The leader or the founder, their DNA is always going to be a part of that company,” Wong said. “Their personal passion, vision, values, it shows up kind of naturally within the company.”
He also shared research from a national survey conducted years earlier. “The number one reason was the relationship that they had with that leader,” Wong said. “But the second reason that they chose wasn’t the tech… actually, the second reason was they loved the brand within the community.”
Looking ahead, Wong said the brands that will last are the ones that evolve continuously while remaining consistent. “Brand design is like music, and the trends with music change every year,” he said. “If you’re producing a brand, and you’re not paying attention to where we’re going as a culture, or as all the trends are, then you become irrelevant.”
“And so what happens when you become irrelevant? The impact is insane,” Wong added. “Those 100,000 people are changing to a relevant brand, right… So if you think about it, how well do you continue to keep yourself relevant?”
