Nicole Oge, who left her post as senior vice president of marketing at Town Residential in April, is headed to Douglas Elliman to oversee all branding, Elliman CEO Dottie Herman confirmed to The Real Deal. Oge will join the brokerage Monday as chief marketing officer, in which capacity she will be responsible for the branding of the brokerage operations in New York, Florida and California as well as Douglas Elliman Property Management and the lending arm DE Capital Mortgage.
Herman said she had been searching for a chief marketing officer since Camilla Papale, who formerly held the role, left in October. After 10 years at Elliman – including three as CMO – Papale relocated to San Francisco to form an eponymous branding, design and marketing consultancy firm.
“Nicole has a background in high-end branding and not just in real estate,” Herman told The Real Deal.
Before joining Town in 2010, Oge served as a marketing specialist for Mercedes Benz and was the global group director at the Seventh Art Group, a real estate and hospitality marketing firm, according to her LinkedIn profile.
At Town, she was responsible for the brokerage’s celebrated “Look Up” marketing campaign. Oge’s departure follows former Town development chief Reid Price’s jump to Elliman last year. Town sent Price a cease-and-desist letter following the move, demanding that he halt his involvement with the new development marketing division of Douglas Elliman, as The Real Deal reported at the time. Town threatened to sue Price if he failed to respond to the requests.
Herman said she does not expect any legal action from Town over Oge’s move. Herman said she was informed by an undisclosed source that Oge was available to begin working.
Oge could not be immediately reached for comment. And a spokesperson for Town did not respond to a request for comment on Oge’s move to Elliman.
“Her contribution to bringing the Town brand through the second phase of its expansion was extremely valuable. Her talent and enthusiasm and her love of the brand have left their mark,” Town president and COO Jeff Appel said in a statement at the time of Oge’s earlier departure.
According to TRD’s annual brokerage ranking in May, Elliman was the largest firm in the city, based on both the number of Manhattan agents (1,725) and total Manhattan listings (954). Town ranked No. 7 in agents (472) and No. 6 in listings (140).
