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Ginger Wilcox isn’t planning on stepping into Sherry Chris’ shoes.
Instead, the newly-minted Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate president is ready to craft her own pair, built on nearly 30 years of experience at some of the world’s most recognizable brands, including Verizon, Oracle, Trulia, Sindeo and Anywhere’s former iBuyer brand, RealSure.
Ginger Wilcox
“I’ve caught a lot of people saying, ‘Can you step into Sherry’s shoes?’ And I say, ‘Absolutely not. I have no intention of filling her shoes,'” she said with palpable reverence for Chris’ legendary tenure and mentorship. “I’m really looking to put my own view on where things are at and springboard us forward to the next innovation.”
Wilcox, who has been at the helm for a month, said she’s excited to use her extensive branding, marketing and tech experience to help BHGRE’s‘ 12,400 affiliates to better leverage cutting-edge consumer data sourced from Dotdash Meredith, the owner of sister brand Better Homes and Gardens magazine.
Now more than ever, being in tune with consumers’ lifecycles will help agents be proactive, not reactive, in a bidding battle-worn and inventory-starved market, Wilcox said.
“The real estate industry has evolved a lot over the last 15 years — we’ve seen massive changes in how people use their homes,” Wilcox told Inman. “I think now more than ever, our homes are really the center of so much of our life. I think we’ll be able to uniquely capture those trend shifts and understand the needs of consumers so we can constantly evolve our offerings to make sure that we’re meeting consumers, agents and brokers where they are.”
On the heels of the BHGRE’s 15th anniversary, Wilcox sat down with Inman to talk about settling into her new role, what she’s learned from Sherry Chris and her plans for taking the brand to the next level.
Inman: Before coming to BHGRE, you had a longstanding relationship with Anywhere through its bygone iBuyer brand, RealSure. What’s the transition process been like?
Wilcox: I definitely had a relationship with Anywhere [before coming to BHGRE], which is great because I had an opportunity to really get to know a lot of people over the last few years. And quite frankly, I’ve had the opportunity throughout much of my career to work with Anywhere through the variety of different roles that I’ve had. That’s been just wonderful.
Better Homes and Gardens is just such an incredible brand, and I feel very fortunate to be leading this organization. It’s not just a real estate company, it’s a truly iconic brand that’s been a beacon of trust and inspiration for consumers for 100 years. It’s such an exciting time to be able to come in as president of this brand and look at our next phase of growth. This past week is actually my fourth week, so I’m very new and still learning a lot.
But getting the opportunity to meet our incredible staff at Better Homes and Gardens, as well as getting out and meeting with all of our brokers has been incredible. I’ve gotten to listen and learn from them [and] understand how they’re leveraging our brand to be able to better support their agents and reach consumers. I’m really excited for kind of the next chapter as I expand my time here.
I like that you brought up Better Homes and Gardens’ brand awareness outside of real estate. I mean, I go to Walmart all the time, and there are aisles of BHG products. And then being a journalist, I’m familiar with the print magazine.
So, you’re managing this name and what it means for real estate, but there’s a lot of synchronicity with BHG’s other business segments. As you think about the future, how are you thinking about strengthening that collaboration between BHGRE and the array of other brands connected to it?
The relationship that we have with Dotdash Meredith and the Better Homes and Gardens magazine is really a great differentiator for us because we have access to insights from the Dotdash Meredith ecosystem that give us a unique view into the lifecycle of the consumer. It’s something that no other brand has.
We have a tool called Pinpoint, which many of our agents and brokers use to get unique insights about consumers, understand them and reach their client base in a different way.
I’ve already had the opportunity to meet with the Dotdash Meredith team; they’re incredible. I’m really looking forward to working closely with them to continue the great relationship that Sherry [Chris] has built over the last 15 years and evolve how we work together to make sure that we’re really leveraging the unique assets we have.
Speaking of Sherry, she’s a well-beloved and respected leader in the industry. What does it feel like to be her successor? How do you see yourself making this role your own?
Sherry is a true industry legend, and she’s been just an incredible mentor to me throughout my career. I actually met Sherry in 2008 as Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate was launching, and so I have had the opportunity to watch her launch the brand and grow the brand over the last 15 years.
It is just truly special for me to be able to step into this position, and Sherry has been an incredible supporter and adviser. She continues to be by my side, and she’s been very active with our community. She’s also very supportive of the next evolution of the brand and really leveraging my unique skill set, which includes marketing, branding and deep technology experience.
I’ve caught a lot of people saying, ‘Can you step into Sherry’s shoes?’ And I say, ‘Absolutely not. I have no intention of filling her shoes.’ I’m really looking to put my own view on where things are at, and my vision is to really take this iconic brand that has such great consumer recognition and trust and springboard us forward to the next innovation. Yes, we’re iconic, but we’re also fresh and interesting, and we can provide so much value to consumers and agents alike because of our lifecycle focus.
What does the future look like for you? I think the past several years have proved things can change very quickly — just look at iBuyers. They’re certainly not going away, but I don’t think in 2018 and 2019 most of us could’ve foreseen the sharp fall of brands like Zillow Offers, RedfinNow or even your former company, RealSure.
Consumers are rapidly evolving in what they need and how they’re looking to the industry to fulfill those needs. With BHGRE’s unique advantages in mind, what opportunities lie ahead to elevate the consumer and agent experience in a quickly shifting market?
Great question. Our partnership with Dotdash Meredith really provides Better Homes and Gardens with exclusive consumer insights and gives us the ability to tailor our strategies and offerings to our agents and brokers as well as consumers in a way that’s unrivaled.
The real estate industry has evolved a lot over the last 15 years — we’ve seen massive changes in how people use their homes. I think now more than ever, our homes are really the center of so much of our life. We’ve seen trends where kitchens have become centers of the home, and we think about what’s happened over the last few years with home offices and how important that’s become for many people.
I think we’ll be able to uniquely capture those trend shifts and understand the needs of consumers so we can constantly evolve our offerings to make sure that we’re meeting consumers, agents and brokers where they are.
So, you guys celebrated your 15th anniversary on Monday. How did you celebrate, and how might that anniversary momentum power the brand through the rest of 2023 and into 2024?
We’ve had and have a lot of celebrations coming up. We have a sweepstakes we’ll be doing for customers, and we’ll be working with our network of leaders, brokers and agents to celebrate this moment. I’m very excited.
This week, I’ll actually be in the field getting an opportunity to celebrate with some of our affiliates, which is really, really important. We plan to continue leveraging the great partnerships we have to give our agents premier branding and insights to continue to help them be at the forefront of what’s happening in this industry.
We’re really excited about this 15th year because I think it really signifies not only the great longevity of this brand but the opportunities for the future.
