Everyone has heard the arguments: Pulte bought Centex too soon. It paid too much money. The deal added too much debt to Pulte’s balance sheet. And why add market share when there’s no market in which to sell?
But the litmus test could be whether Pulte can pull off its branding strategy in an industry sector that mostly has resisted name-brand marketing.
Pulte is assigning a brand to every piece of dirt it owns or controls: Centex for entry level lots, Pulte for first move-up, Del Webb for active adult, and “TBD” (apparently a brand still in formation) for luxury products. Pulte now controls the marketing, sales, construction, and design of its products corporately, leaving its areas and divisions to focus on land acquisition and customer service.
Since the merger, Pulte Group has paid down nearly $2 billion in debt and made optimistic projections about synergistic operational savings.
But the litmus test could be whether Pulte can pull off its branding strategy in an industry sector that mostly has resisted name-brand marketing.
Pulte is assigning a brand to every piece of dirt it owns or controls: Centex for entry level lots, Pulte for first move-up, Del Webb for active adult, and “TBD” (apparently a brand still in formation) for luxury products. Pulte now controls the marketing, sales, construction, and design of its products corporately, leaving its areas and divisions to focus on land acquisition and customer service.
Since the merger, Pulte Group has paid down nearly $2 billion in debt and made optimistic projections about synergistic operational savings.
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