Tremains Tauranga has unveiled its new identity, Bower Real Estate, launching on August 4. Photos / Brydie Thompson
A Tauranga real estate firm is launching a major rebrand, which has been in the works for several years.
Tremains Tauranga has unveiled its new identity, Bower Real Estate, ahead of the official launch tomorrow.
The business originated in 2018 when offices of First National, LJ Hooker, Skeltons, and Clarridges combined in the Bay of Plenty.
Under a licence, it adopted the brand name Tremains, which had been founded in Hawke’s Bay in the 1970s.
The Tremains rebrand to Bower will occur only in the wider Tauranga region.
Bower will have more than 50 agents selling property across Tauranga, Mount Maunganui and the wider Bay, stretching from Katikati to Ōhope.
Chief executive Hayden Duncan said the rebrand was developed, curated and created by people living locally.
“It’s the same great people, the same company, just a greater new name.”
Duncan said the Tremains brand did not suit their needs in the current Bay of Plenty market as well as they had thought it might.
He said they had enjoyed being a part of Tremains, but Bower gave them a platform to do even more.
“We’ve got something significantly different now by design rather than just sort of by accident.”
Duncan told the Bay of Plenty Times the company had grown in seven years to be strong in the market, and still considered itself “the new kids on the block”.
“We’re here to shake things up a little bit, and that’s probably reflective of what we’re doing with the rebrand.”
Duncan said agents and clients expected to have something fresh and relevant in today’s fast-moving world.
Along with a new look, he said, there would be changes in the company’s internal systems, including a new administrative platform.
“It’s a complete overhaul of every system that we operate within the business to take advantage of the way technology is going.”
Duncan said the investment to bring Bower into existence was significant.
“It would be fair to say it’s a seven-figure sum.”
The cursor at the end of the new name reflected Bower being part of clients’ stories to help things emerge, Duncan said.
“There’s always something next, and it’s not about the end, it’s about a new beginning.
Bower managing director Anton Jones said the rebrand had come off some “really good results”.
“It’s a combination of the good work we’ve put in over the last seven years to create what we want, and we want to take that next level.”
In May, the five – soon-to-be-six – Tremains offices across the Bay achieved their highest value of sales since opening in 2018.
Tremains Tauranga sold 52 properties that month, with a total value exceeding $61 million.
Jones said the rebrand was innovative and everything the team had been wanting.
“It’s got some good grunt behind it in terms of systems and structures to do things well.”
As Bower, the firm planned to prioritise transparency with clients and leverage tech-savvy tools, changing client interactions.
Jones said the Tauranga firm was not the biggest in terms of “numbers”, and did not necessarily want to be.
For the team, it was about being productive, providing great service, and great support.
“We believe real estate is more than just property – it’s about people, connections, and the community we live in.”
Having grown up in Tauranga and lived his entire life in the Bay of Plenty, Jones said giving back to the community meant a great deal to him.
“We’re proud locals, and we want locals to be proud of us.”
Duncan and Jones said they hoped Bower would become a national real estate brand, owned, curated, and run in New Zealand.
“We’ve taken experience out of our careers across major brands as leaders to bring together what we think is the culmination of the best of everything and something new,” Duncan said.
Kaitlyn Morrell is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.