Black Professionals Spotlight: Evoker
The Compass 15% Pledge is a commitment to support Black professionals. Whether through direct spending or referrals, real estate agents drive billions of dollars of business to a wide variety of local vendors each year.
“There are 2 million real estate agents in the US, and every year they drive at least $15 billion dollars of business to a wide variety of local vendors: photographers, contractors, painters, landscapers, stagers, movers, attorneys and more,” Compass CEO Robert Reffkin said.
“If agents across the industry spent 15% of their real estate vendor spend to Black professionals, those professionals would earn more than $2 billion per year from real-estate agents alone. That’s enough revenue to create opportunity for countless Black entrepreneurs and empower many Black communities — and it’s something that’s both completely possible and completely in our control.”
Following Robert Reffkin’s pledge, Compass California launched the Black Professionals Spotlight. Led by Alexis Stewart, San Francisco-based Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Program Manager at Compass, the 15% Pledge | Black Professionals Spotlight is a biweekly email, blog, and social media campaign promoting featured professionals to Compass agents throughout California.
“When this pledge was announced, I knew that there is a crucial part involved in ensuring Black-owned businesses are on every regional vendor list, but the next impactful step would be to actively market these vendors to our agents to increase awareness, access and to feature these talented professionals,” Stewart said.
We’re inviting Compass agents — and all agents across the industry — to join the 15% Pledge, which reads: “Moving forward, I will work to allocate 15% of my real estate vendor spend to Black professionals — from photographers to videographers to attorneys to contractors to stagers to all the small businesses I source and refer to my clients.” Click here to Join the Pledge.
Evoker: Not your typical real estate videos
Evoker is an emotional intelligence company, that specializes in authentic storytelling via digital film. Dramatic drone shots and camera pans across a vast backyard are ideal for selling listings. Instead, Evoker offers something more bespoke and personal – connecting real estate professionals with their target clientele through authentic storytelling.
Our best work comes from filming with agents who trust our process and are willing to display their vulnerability — a lot of people don’t realize this, but that’s one of your superpowers.
“We ARE NOT a video production company, so we don’t shoot films that look like every other piece of real estate agent video marketing,” Kameron Jackson, Founder and CEO of Evoker, said. “Through the 20 years of marketing and brand strategy experience I gained while working on major brands, I realized that I could also apply those same strategies and tactics to the real estate industry.”
Jackson’s concept for Evoker started in 2014 when he offered to help a friend with her career in television broadcasting. He realized that in such a competitive field, professionals need tools that help them stand out from the competition.
“The goal was to create a personal brand for her that was every bit as unique and dynamic as she was,” Jackson said. “From the success of that project, I came to understand the simple, yet pivotal, fact — that at the core of anyone’s personal brand is their personal story.”
Evoker worked hard in their early years to perfect the art of filmmaking at scale, so they would be able to tackle big projects for brands that required hundreds or even thousands of films delivered together. They also brought in PhD-level behavioral science expertise to breakdown the neuro-scientific way people make decisions.
“A lot of people don’t know this, but 95 percent of all decisions humans make are based on emotion,” Jackson said. “Once we started to really grasp principles like that, we were able to dial in the very intentional creative methodology we use today to tell a person’s story, so that it will always connect with anyone who watches it.”
Evoker’s cinematic videos showcase an agent’s individuality and personal background, helping them connect with potential clients.
“Leveraging your individuality, we craft an inspirational story about you, which is designed to accelerate trust with your target audience faster and more reliably,” Jackson said. “Our best work comes from filming with agents who trust our process and are willing to display their vulnerability –a lot of people don’t realize this, but that’s one of your superpowers.”
Jackson’s passion for Evoker only grew as he delivered results for his clients with turnkey services that required little of their bandwidth – so they could go on focusing on what they do best, real estate.
While marketing is a constantly evolving field, and video reigns supreme on the Internet and mobile devices, Evoker is always adapting to the latest trends and technologies to remain at the forefront.
“We see more and more professionals recognizing the competitiveness of the industry and finding new and innovative ways to differentiate themselves in a sea of sameness,” Jackson said. “On the flip side, I have seen a trend in agents striving for perfection to the point where they lose authenticity. Scripted, cookie-cutter videos lack emotion, so they don’t connect with audiences.”
And it’s authenticity that translates viewers into lifelong clients, Jackson emphasizes.
The silver lining for Evoker is that companies see the need for our service now more than ever. In-person client meetings are rare in the midst of a pandemic, so brands — and the revenue generators within them — have a need to build trust in this new virtual world.
“When people casually ask me what I do for a living, I tell them I am in the ‘relationship business,’ because it’s literally the truth,” Jackson said. “Some of the most authentic relationships I have to do this day are with clients who I’ve gotten to know through their films, which has led to some of the most authentic friendships I have had in a very long time. I seriously have the best job in the world.”
After the pandemic and social distancing required businesses to adapt, Evoker moved quickly to execute safety protocols that prioritize the health and safety of their staff and clients.
“The silver lining for Evoker is that companies see the need for our service now more than ever. In-person client meetings are rare in the midst of a pandemic, so brands — and the revenue generators within them — have a need to build trust in this new virtual world,” Jackson shared.
We at Compass are incredibly grateful to Kameron Jackson and his team at Evoker for sharing these unique insights.
“We are so grateful to the agents and leadership teams at Compass for not just “talking about” change, but for actually implementing change with an initiative such as this[15% Pledge]. Like Compass, we feel an endless commitment to excellence, equality, and unwavering loyalty to the clients we are so fortunate to work with,” Jackson said.