Schell Brothers' Unique Approach to Brand-Building

What stands out about Schell Brothers’ product marketing is that there isn’t much of it—at least in the traditional sense for production home builders. The company doesn’t need it. Its brand is strong enough.

“Branding is way more powerful than marketing,” says CEO Chris Schell, who defines branding as “creating a positive association to your company.” 

And so it is, thanks to a culture that favors storytelling and engagement over conventional calls to action. The company’s commercials don’t sell homes, they show off happy living. Its billboards don’t advertise discounts, they count down the days to Christmas. 

One of the company’s biggest community outreach initiatives, Project Kudos, may not directly generate leads but does support local charities and promotes “telling someone they’re amazing and feeling awesome about it,” Chris says. 

For two decades, Schell Brothers has gone to great lengths to demonstrate its values and has since been fueled by big initiatives led by marketing director Alyssa Titus. 

A local business owner before joining Schell, Alyssa staffed an in-house photo and video team to produce brand-focused content, launched a biannual lifestyle magazine, and expanded the company’s culture by taking Project Kudos from an in-house program to involving the community at large. 

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She also spearheaded Schellville (shown, below), initially a handful of miniature Christmas-themed buildings within the city’s Winter Wonderfest charitable fundraiser. An unfortunate break with its organizer blossomed into Schellville’s Enchanted Winter Celebration (pictured, below), featuring a white-as-ice roller-skating rink, a local artisans market, a cozy bar for adults, live music, Santa (of course!), and an ever-growing collection of miniature buildings and different activities. 

The result: big smiles, happy memories, and funds for local charities. “On a big night, Schellville may get up to 8,000 visitors,” Alyssa says.

Everyone is encouraged to get in on the act with Schell-branded swag, including a generous gift box for new homeowners and a starter kit for new hires in a box labeled: Life is Short. Work Somewhere Awesome. “You name it, we’ve probably branded it,” Alyssa says, from T-shirts to beach towels, stickers, chip clips, and tape measures.

The builder’s branding even extends to its commitment to high-quality, high-performance construction via a comprehensive program cleverly called Schellter. There’s also The Coffee House, a popular café on the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk, which serves as a more subtle branding effort.

Cost is rarely a factor for any of these initiatives. “We don’t really budget for it,” Chris says, having built a personal brand for saying yes to anything that brings happiness to someone.

Though it’s difficult to directly tie Schell Brothers’ branding efforts to the builder’s sharp increase in revenue since 2015, a more reliable indicator may be the company’s reputation among homebuyers. Roni Wilyter and her family vacationed in Rehoboth Beach for several years before deciding to move there. By then, they’d been indoctrinated in Schell’s brand and went straight to the builder for their new home. Roni is now a brand ambassador for Schell, one of a growing number of buyer volunteers spreading the gospel of happiness on the builder’s behalf.

The brand also has inspired a flood of folks wanting to work for housing’s happiest builder. “As much as I like to think I’m good at recruiting, the bottom line is we mostly get unsolicited inquiries and referrals,” says Sarah Tezak, the company’s human resources director.