Know-How Exchange : Branding

We are a real estate firm that has been doing business in a niche property type and neighborhood for over a decade. Our agents have built good brand awareness and equity within this narrow market.

Someone recently bought the company with the intention of expanding our brand to the general market. We decided to do this (with essentially no advertising budget) by launching a new, umbrella brand, taking on a 3- to 5-year plan to reach people who already knew of us, and educating them about our new services by word of mouth. We quickly discovered that our most successful agents refused to let us cut -- or even diminish -- the old brand (it's making them rich -- why change anything?).

As we hire new agents, they find that our old niche brand is hindering their ability to pursue other property types/neighborhoods. As a result, the new owner wants the company to become visible in new markets as soon as possible to overcome this issue (again, with little money besides co-op dollars and possibly a new location). He is forcing us to grow the brand without any true explanation to old and new clients, thereby splintering both of our brands.

Now we seem to be stuck: we can't get rid of the old brand due to the senior agents (who are bringing in 90% of our business), and that is upsetting new and potential agents. We now have an ugly "merged" logo, utilizing both brands, but anytime we dare to use just the new logo, we get torn apart by the old agents.

Do we force the issue by eliminating the niche brand, possibly causing key agents to leave and causing significant financial distress? Do we continue with a "merged" concept and let our agents educate clients one by one? Is there any other solution that can possibly make all camps happy?

Please help!