"Simply Cinco" Retail Welcome Center Wins the Grand AURORA Award

    /24-7PressRelease/ - KENNESAW, GA, September 04, 2008 - Marketing Specifics, Inc., a full-service advertising, marketing and commercial interior design firm that provides solutions for residential developers and builders, today announced that Newland Communities has won a Grand AURORA Award for its "Simply Cinco" Retail Welcome Center located in Katy, Texas, a western suburb of Houston.

The AURORA Awards are presented each year to builders, developers, architects, planners, interior merchandisers, landscape architects and other disciplines actively involved in projects in a 12-state southeastern region who have demonstrated building and design excellence.

The "Simply Cinco" Welcome Center first competed and claimed the first-place AURORA Award for the state of Texas, before moving onto the regional competition against all category winners. The AURORA Awards announced the "Simply Cinco" Welcome Center as the winner during the Southeast Building Conference this August.

The 3,000 square-foot facility appropriately named "Simply Cinco" functions as the sales center for Cinco Ranch, which is a 7,600 acre master-planned community by the national home builder. Unlike most sales centers, "Simply Cinco" is located in an up-scale retail pedestrian mall that generates both traditional and non-traditional sale center traffic.

Marketing Specifics partnered with Newland Communities to design this unique retail sales center environment to fit within the new retail approach. The result was the creation of "Simply Cinco," a center that is dedicated to providing a gathering space for relationship building, where the experience is all about the customer and community lifestyle. Marketing Specifics' goal was to create an environment where people can relax and be subtly enticed to purchase a home, even though they casually came to the retail location without that intention.

"Placing a sales center in a high traffic area such as a commercial retail space is a new trend we are seeing nationwide for community selling. Retail Sales Centers have many advantages, but also have an entirely different set of challenges from a traditional on-sight sales center. The primary difference is the need for fresh content programming to keep people coming through the door," said Joan Barnes MIRM and principal owner of Marketing Specifics.

A great deal of hard work went into this project from all parties involved, resulting in a unique sales and marketing environment for Cinco Ranch. Marketing Specifics is proud knowing "Simply Cinco" is not only a success within the community, but is also an award-winning Sales and Information Center for Newland Communities.

Recognized as one of the nation's premier real estate marketing and advertising agencies, Marketing Specifics has been presented with more than 200 awards for their creative excellence, working side by side with local, regional and national residential developers and builders to generate sales.

For additional information on Marketing Specifics call 1.800.717.8999 or visit www.marketingspecifics.com.

About Marketing Specifics: Founded in 1986 by principal owner Joan N. Barnes, MIRM, and located in Kennesaw, Georgia, Marketing Specifics is a niche residential development full-service marketing and advertising agency that handles Sales Centers, Amenity Centers Interior Design, Custom Millwork, Consulting and more.

About Cinco Ranch: Developed by Newland Communities, Cinco Ranch is a 7,600 acre master-planned community located 32 miles from downtown Houston in Katy, Texas, a western suburb of Houston. The community offers buyers the broadest array of new homes, at prices from the $170,000s to over $1 million. Cinco Ranch can be found online at www.cincoranch.com.

About Newland Communities: Newland Communities is a privately owned company that creates residential and urban mixed-use communities from coast-to-coast. With expertise in creating a special sense of community, they bring to life the unique history, culture and traditions of the land they develop. They believe it is their responsibility to create enduring, healthier communities so people may live life in ways that matter most to them. Newland currently has nearly 40 communities underway in 14 states. Newland Communities can be found online at www.newlandcommunities.com.

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