Stockton Mortgage: Leveraging equity in a house of brands

Stockton Mortgage is an entrepreneurial company. It was started in 2001 by David Stockton. Over the course of two decades, it transformed from a one-person operation to a local entity, then a regional player, and finally, a national agency with a workforce of over 200 employees.

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We worked with their team to establish the verbal and visual identity. But that was only the beginning. In 2020, Stockton was meeting the demand of a very hot real estate market. But, they saw a gap. Gen Z and younger Millenials were still underserved. They had the insight that those folks wanted to talk to a loan officer eventually but preferred to initiate their relationship online. Quillo was born. We created the name, brand identity, and website to take this from an idea to a reality.

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They saw another gap in 2022. Local banks had great relationships, knew the real estate, knew the deals, but often lacked the capital to underwrite the mortgage. Stockton created Lender Ltd. to provide white-label mortgages to local banks. The company allows the banks to offer larger mortgages at lower rates and better service their existing customers.

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Stockton Mortgage, Quillo, and Lender Ltd. are three distinct entities forming a 'house of brands '. While Stockton Mortgage is the parent brand, the relationship to Quillo and Lender Ltd. is not immediately apparent. This deliberate decision to maintain clear boundaries between the three entities was a strategic move to avoid perceived conflicts.

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While all three brands look and feel different, there are some common threads. First, there is the warm, conversational language. Buying a home is expensive and stressful; they want to make it more pleasant. Each brand uses strong typography to establish personality and to make the websites easier to navigate. Also, blue was a non-negotiable. While the color is calming, professional, and builds trust, the truth behind the choice is that the company started in central Kentucky, and Wildcats fans are earnest fans.

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