RICOH360 Tours Releases AI Virtual Staging
The AI Virtual Staging is a new feature that automatically arranges virtual furniture on 360° images of vacant rooms through Artificial Intelligence. RICOH360 Tours, a service of RICOH Company Ltd, the only truly complete and affordable 360° virtual tour solution under one global brand, today announced the launch of the AI Virtual Staging feature. AI Virtual Staging will be available to all users as a beta. This new feature automatically arranges virtual furniture on 360° images in vacant rooms using Artificial Intelligence. In addition, a new pricing plan will be launched on July 15th, 2021. The need to introduce remote selling using virtual tours allows you to reach the largest pool of potential buyers. Your viewers will experience a realistic tour of properties they are interested in and when they contact you, they are probably very interested in your listed property. The simple and convenient operation of RICOH360 Tours has been well received by many customers, with the number of registered users exceeding 30,000. New Feature: AI Virtual Staging Beta Virtual furniture and accessories are automatically arranged by AI on 360° images in vacant rooms to make the space more attractive. Visitors will be able to visualize themselves living in the home, so it aids in selling your property faster. Furthermore, RICOH's AI technology enables virtual staging of properties with furniture within 10 - 60 minutes. The free plan allows you to virtual stage up to ten 360° images per month, the pro plan allows you to virtual stage up to 20 images per month, and the business plan allows you to virtual stage up to 100 images per month. RICOH360 Tours users can use this function at no additional charge. RICOH360 Tours virtual staging reduces the time, cost and effort required to stage a home. AI virtual staging will be offered to users as a beta version, and improvements will be made in preparation for the official release. A sample AI virtual staging can be found here. Example of AI Virtual Staging Beta Before and After New pricing plans New pricing plans are now available: Pro plan and Business plan. Customers who sign up for an annual subscription will receive a discount of approximately 15%, starting at $39/month (for an annual paid subscription), which is lower than the previous plan. Now, additional team members can be added not only for the Business plan, but also for the Pro plan. The previous plan (Entry and Standard plans) will no longer be available for new customers. Existing paid users can continue to use the previous plans, but they can also switch to the new plans if they choose. Click here for new pricing plans. About RICOH360 Tours RICOH360 Tours is the official virtual tour platform for RICOH THETA, launched in July 2020. It has been supporting sales and marketing operations in real estate and other industries as a cloud service that allows anyone from anywhere to virtually view "Spaces" online without having to visit the site. With a RICOH THETA and a PC/smartphone, anyone can easily create and publish a virtual tour. There is no limit to the number of virtual tours you can publish, the number of images you can insert in a tour. Agents may add property and contact information to the virtual tour so it can be utilized in various ways, such as shared via e-mails or SNS, embed to a webpage or can be shown through web conferencing systems. With the virtual tour form function, Call to Action (CTA), you can set up a form in the virtual tour that asks for your visitor's contact information before they can view the entire tour. Furthermore, customers can use "AI image enhancement," "AI Video Maker" and "AI Virtual staging beta," which use Ricoh's original AI technology, and are available for all plans, making it easy to create attractive content. For more information, please contact us from below: About AI Virtual Staging betaAbout RICOH360 Tours About Ricoh Data Service Business Ricoh is the leader in the development of high-quality immersive 360° cameras and platforms for prosumers and professionals to easily capture and share 360° views of physical spaces from a mobile app in minutes. Ricoh creates intuitive solutions that require no professional, technical or photography experience to create immersive digitized photo-realistic views of a physical environment. For more information, please visit here.

National Association of Realtors Unveils New Brand and Mark for First Time in 45 Years
WASHINGTON, April 9, 2018 -- The National Association of Realtors® has been helping shape the real estate industry for more than 100 years, and today revealed a modern new visual identity to make its iconic brand and mark more multi-dimensional, dynamic and future-focused. The new brand, redesigned for the first time in 45 years, leverages many of the familiar attributes and visual elements of the trusted Realtor® mark, including the very recognizable blue color palette, but moves the logo from a flat two dimensional image to 3-D, adding further depth, dimension and elevation to the brand. "NAR and its members have always understood that real estate is, and always will be, a people-focused business," said NAR President Elizabeth Mendenhall, a sixth-generation Realtor® from Columbia, Missouri and CEO of RE/MAX Boone Realty. "The evolution of the Realtor® brand reinforces who we are as an organization – an unrivaled advocate and trusted resource in real estate, growing and adapting to the changing demographics and needs of today's buyers, sellers and investors. It expresses the role that Realtors® play in a meaningful and deeply emotional milestone in life, and more than simply a transaction, we are helping clients achieve their hopes and dreams." The original "block R" logo was first adopted in 1973, when the association changed its name from the National Association of Real Estate Boards to the National Association of Realtors®. The membership mark is recognized globally, and identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the association and subscribes to its strict code of ethics. Not all real estate agents are Realtors®, and only those who join the association can call themselves a Realtor® and use the membership mark. The newly evolved mark and logo, referred to as a "new dimension," has a contemporary 3-D cube holding a slightly redrawn but still very recognizable "R" letterform and a simple and bold san-serif typography for the association name. "Technology, shifting market conditions and consumers are reshaping the real estate industry at a breakneck pace; and when I became NAR's CEO last fall, I vowed to lead the association into the future and ensure that our members can compete and thrive in a dynamic marketplace," said NAR CEO Bob Goldberg. "The new brand embodies the association's rich history, but better reflects our forward-thinking focus and how we'll stay ahead of industry evolution and disruption and continue to lead the real estate industry in the years ahead." NAR worked with Conran Design Group, a global branding and design firm headquartered in New York and London, where it originated over 60 years ago, to evolve the association's brand identity and mark; Conran has worked with numerous other recognizable brands, including Coca-Cola, P&G, Pfizer, Nestle, Rolls-Royce and Shell. During the nearly yearlong rebranding process, Conran conducted extensive research and focus groups of consumers and Realtors®. In early June, NAR will begin the brand transition process across its communications, as well as implement the external brand roll out to its more than 1,200 affiliated local and state associations of Realtors® and its 1.3 million members. The National Association of Realtors® is America's largest trade association, representing 1.3 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

Graphiq and booj Partner to Deliver Interactive Data Visualizations to Real Estate Brokerages Across the Country
  SANTA BARBARA, Calif.--Graphiq, the semantic technology and data visualization company, today announced a partnership with website developer booj, which operates the Enterprise Network, a nationwide consortium of leading independent real estate brokerages. The partnership will give members of the Enterprise Network direct access to Graphiq's library of fully interactive data visualizations, which bring a new level of insight to the homebuying experience. With this new collaboration, booj will have untethered access to launch new, engaging content quickly and help its clients provide the most competitive data solutions to their users. Booj customers will have direct access to Graphiq's data visualizations on properties, sales trends, community demographics, and more. In working with booj, Graphiq will be able to easily deploy data solutions to a multitude of top tier brokerages and establish a strong relationship with one of the leading web developers in real estate. How it will work: Continuing its trend of technological innovation, booj will use Graphiq's data library and visualization API to seamlessly integrate interactive and engaging information on its clients' websites, newsletters, and CRMs. "booj is able to reach a wide variety of real estate professionals across the country with its advanced web development services," said Tommy Gamba, Senior Director of Partnerships for Graphiq. "Graphiq is excited to partner with such a formidable player in the space to expand the use of our interactive visualizations on brokers' websites and to get more information into consumers' hands." Both Graphiq and booj hope this collaboration will put more decision-making power in the hands of consumers by providing a wider range of real estate professionals with unique and accessible visualizations. "Graphiq's interactive tool is a game-changer for engaging website visitors," said Ido Zucker, Co-Founder of booj. "Our customers continuously emphasize the importance of data and interactivity as part of the process for engaging home buyers and sellers, and booj can now quickly and affordably provide that service through our partnership with Graphiq." About Graphiq Graphiq is a semantic technology and data visualization company that instantly delivers deep insights across a number of important industries. The company's real estate solution provides interactive, live-updating visualizations of real estate data and information. Graphiq Real Estate works with brokers, online portals, and web developers to make data more accessible by building internal and customer-facing products, streamlining access to massive amounts of real estate insights without the high integration costs. Graphiq visualizations are available on both a property- and location-level, providing unparalleled breadth and depth to any real estate consumer's online experience. More online at www.graphiq.com and real-estate.graphiq.com.

Realtor.com® Steps Out with New Graphic Look for Web and Mobile and National Ad Campaign Featuring Film Star Elizabeth Banks
WASHINGTON, May 12, 2015 -- Realtor.com®, a leading provider of online real estate services operated by News Corp. subsidiary Move, Inc., stepped out emphatically today with the introduction of a new graphic identity and national advertising campaign that position the brand as the best – and truest – provider of real estate information and services for buyers, sellers and renters of properties in the U.S. The new work was previewed here this afternoon by Move CEO Ryan O'Hara in keynote remarks to more than 2,000 industry leaders and real estate professionals gathered for the 2015 Realtors® Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo. The campaign represents the biggest and boldest marketing initiative in realtor.com®'s nearly 20-year history and unfolds against the backdrop of a marketplace that has been seismically altered by the recent acquisition of Move by News Corp and the merger of competitors Zillow and Trulia. At stake are online home listings and homes-for-sale ads exceeding $9 billion annually, according to a recent research report by Goldman, Sachs & Co. The campaign also coincides with the continued surge of realtor.com®'s business, which has seen record growth in web and mobile visitors and the brand's recent ascension to the industry's #2 position. The new graphic identity will immediately become a centerpiece of realtor.com®'s communications on its website and mobile apps and in its advertising. The new look hinges on a two-tone logotype in which the "real" in realtor.com® is called out in bright red letters and the rest of the name is presented in black. It is intended to communicate that while competitors may feature conflicting or inaccurate information, realtor.com® stands for what is real in real estate by delivering fresh and accurate listings and connecting people with the data, tools and professional expertise they need to discover their perfect home. "Serving buyers, sellers and renters of properties with the best information and tools anytime, anywhere and communicating the value brokers and agents provide as trusted guides through the process is our utmost priority," said Ryan O'Hara, chief executive officer of Move. "This is what we mean by what's real in real estate – and what sets us apart." It is a message that is at the heart of realtor.com®'s new advertising, which revolves around a series of 15- and 30-second TV spots and longer-form web videos featuring Elizabeth Banks, the Emmy-nominated actress, producer and director who is among Hollywood's most sought after and versatile performers. Ms. Banks' directorial debut, the musical comedy Pitch Perfect 2, opens in theaters nationwide on Friday. This summer she will appear opposite John Cusack and Paul Dano in the Brian Wilson biographical feature film Love and Mercy, which is scheduled for release on June 5. Later this year, she will reprise her role as District 12 escort Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, the next installment of the global blockbuster Hunger Games franchise, which to date has grossed in excess of $2 billion worldwide at the box office. Regarding her interest in participating in the realtor.com® campaign, Ms. Banks said: "I'm a little house obsessed and looking for a new home right now, which made the opportunity to work on the new realtor.com® ad campaign a great fit. I love the accessibility of realtor.com®. My husband and I email each other photos of houses to look at and the other person can pull them right up – no matter where they are. The realtor.com® app literally allows you to take the home buying experience with you everywhere in your daily life." The new realtor.com® campaign – which is unified by the tagline "real estate in real time" – was created by Pereira & O'Dell New York, the company's advertising agency, under the direction of Andrew Strickman, Move's head of brand and chief creative. In it, Ms. Banks portrays a real estate-obsessed version of herself and delivers the message with humor, smarts, glamour and sass. In the campaign's first spot, called "Jim," she observes the title character using the realtor.com® website to find his dream home. "You're a real-time real estate renegade there, Jim Bob," she says. "An arbiter of accuracy. A phenom of fresh listings. A master of mortgage rates. A ruler of refinancing. An emperor of escrow. Jim, let's live in that house together." The TV ads debut May 18 and will run across major broadcast networks and cable channels, including CBS – where a :30 slot has been secured on the eagerly anticipated final episode of the Late Show with David Letterman on May 20 – HGTV, Bravo, TBS, Comedy Central and Spike, among others. The web videos featuring Ms. Banks will break later. The new ads are intended to appeal to a wide consumer target – from millennials looking for small, low-priced homes for themselves and their pets to young couples looking for more space on tight budgets to families looking for bigger, longer-term homes. For repeat buyers, the realtor.com® message will be delivered by integrated advertising positioning the brand as the best tool for homebuyers looking to make the smartest, most informed purchase decisions. For first-time buyers, who account for roughly one-third of U.S. home sales in a typical year, the approach will feature branded content presented in a so-called "edutainment" format positioning realtor.com® as a trusted ally demystifying the real estate process. The TV spots and web videos were directed by Fred Savage, the Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated actor, director and producer best known for his role as Kevin Arnold in the American TV series The Wonder Years. Mr. Savage's directorial credits include episodes of the popular TV series Modern Family and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and the critically acclaimed kids' shows Phil of the Future, Wizards of Waverly Place and Zeke and Luther. He has also directed commercials for a number of leading consumer brands, including Farmers Insurance, the California Milk Board and Fitbit. About Move, Inc. and realtor.com® Move, Inc., a subsidiary of News Corp, is a leading provider of online real estate services. Move operates the realtor.com® website and mobile experiences, which connect people to the most important and accurate information they need to find their perfect home and to the REALTORS® whose expertise guides consumers through buying and selling. As the official website of the National Association of REALTORS®, realtor.com® empowers consumers to make smart home buying, selling and renting decisions by leveraging its direct, real-time connections with more than 800 multiple listing services (MLS) via all types of computers, tablets and smartphones. In addition to the industry's most comprehensive and accurate information, Move's network of websites provides consumers a wealth of innovative tools, including Moving.com™, SeniorHousingNet and others. Move supports real estate agents and brokerages by providing many services to grow their businesses, including ListHub™, the nation's leading listing syndicator and centralized intelligence platform for the real estate industry; TigerLead®; Top Producer® Systems; and FiveStreet; as well as many free services. Move is based in the heart of Silicon Valley – in San Jose, Calif.