We're thrilled to share that Milesbrand has been named a finalist for six awards at The Nationals, North America's most prestigious recognition of excellence in new home sales and marketing. These nominations honor the strategic creativity and measurable impact we deliver for our clients in the homebuilding and real estate development industry.

Hosted by the National Sales and Marketing Council (NSMC), The Nationals celebrates outstanding achievement across diverse categories, recognizing work that sets new standards for the industry. Winners will be announced at the awards gala in February 2026 at the International Builders' Show in Orlando. Each finalist nomination reflects the power of authentic storytelling, strategic thinking and the collaborative partnerships we build with visionary clients who trust us to help them succeed.

Silver Award Finalists Recognized for Strategic Creative Excellence

Ave Maria: Real Stories That Drive Real Results

Milesbrand's work for Ave Maria has been recognized as a finalist in two categories:

• Best Print Ad
• Best Print Ad for a 55+ Buyer

Known as "A Big Kind of Small Town," Ave Maria is a longtime Milesbrand client and vibrant master-planned community in Florida. This community features a unique town center and true Main Street, with an abundance of retail, dining, business and medical services available.

The Challenge

The biggest obstacle? The community's perceived remoteness. For today's buyers, whether growing families or those seeking a slower pace, value, safety and connection matter more than ever. The community’s audience is drawn to the charm of a walkable town, strong community spirit and everyday conveniences, but location perceptions threatened to overshadow these advantages.

The Strategy

We continued the "Real Stories" campaign, rooted in first-person accounts from actual residents and brought to life across an omnichannel platform. The print component played a starring role in a multichannel campaign featuring resident voices and real-life testimonials. These real residents gave the message staying power with stories that could be touched, reread and shared.

The Results

Despite industry headwinds and rising interest rates, results were strong: 422 sales by August 2025, including a record-setting May. Welcome Center visits jumped 53% year over year, and resident involvement grew, with more locals volunteering to be featured in the campaign. The authentic storytelling approach transformed perceived weakness into proof of community strength.

True Homes: Making Personalization Tangible

Milesbrand’s work for True Homes has been recognized as a finalist in two categories:

• Best 30-60 Second Commercial: Home Happy
• Best Overall Advertising Campaign: 3-3-3

Carolina-based builder True Homes has built its reputation on being the most consumer-centric builder in the business. Their promise to customers is simple but powerful: It's All About U. Their key strategy for delivering on this promise is personalization.

Home Happy: Showing the Value of Personalization

The Challenge: How do you tangibly demonstrate the value of personalization as offered by this builder?

The Strategy: The Milesbrand team decided to create a video that shows the value of personalization for each member of the family from the mom's point of view. As part of an overall campaign, this video was deployed across social media, YouTube, connected TV (CTV), landing pages, email blasts and more.

The Results: This year-long campaign contributed to a projected year-end total of 1,850 sales, achieving the sales goal for the year. The video made an abstract concept, personalization, feel real and attainable for buyers shopping for a new home.

The 3-3-3 Campaign: Shifting Fear to Excitement

The Situation: New home marketing is dominated by generic messaging and offers. These messages flood the market and while they're technically helpful, they're indistinguishable across brands and often transactional rather than emotional.

The Challenge: Create a unique point of view or unexpected offer that motivates buyers to get off the fence and take action.

The Opportunity: The key area the Milesbrand team identified that would help solve this challenge was to shift the conversation from fear to excitement. This emotional shift is key when working with home buyers in an uncertain market. The team’s goal was to create an unexpected offer unique to the industry that still felt within reach.

The Strategy: The True Homes team worked to value-engineer existing product to create an unbelievable offer as a lead generation tactic that helped to wake up the market. The result? A 3,000 square foot home with a three-car garage priced in the $300,000s! Then, the Milesbrand team stepped in to create a marketing campaign utilizing video, streaming audio, a website takeover, landing page with lead capture, digital brochure, social media content, broker and consumer email blasts, and outdoor billboards.

The Results: The market responded favorably to the 3-3-3 campaign. In four months (June through September), 259 of these value-engineered homes were sold, resulting in 14% of total projected sales for the year of 1,850. This was considered a resounding success that proved bold positioning drives action!

The George: Building a Legacy from Day One

Milesbrand’s work for The George has been recognized as a finalist in one category:

• Best Video – Long Format

This new 15,000-acre community is located in the most demographically diverse county in the country, Fort Bend County outside of Houston, Texas.

The Challenge

Due to the scale of this community and diversity of potential buyers, a mix of product has been developed to reach every demographic profile. How do you create a unique identity for a new community in one of the most competitive master-planned community markets in the country? This was the question that Johnson Development Corporation found itself asking, which led to the collaboration with the Milesbrand team.

The Strategy

Beginning with the brand reveal video, the Milesbrand team’s goal was to position the community as a place where rich history, a powerful legacy and a diverse population of highly educated people are invited to participate in a dynamic future.

The Results

The video premiered at a private name reveal event with city officials, Realtors, builders and community constituents. Immediately after, a presale campaign launched the marketing for this new community, with new homes for sale in Q2 2026. The video established The George's brand foundation before a single home was built, creating anticipation and positioning that will compound value throughout the development timeline.

The Aurora Highlands: Stories Waiting to be Written

Milesbrand’s work for Bridgewater Homes at The Aurora Highlands resulted in one finalist nomination:

• Best Video – Long Format

The Community

The Aurora Highlands is a master-planned community located in Aurora, Colorado, offering new luxury homes from the mid-$600,000s. This community serves homebuyers seeking not just a house, but a place where their life’s most important moments unfold.

The Approach

Our team created a cinematic video capturing life at The Aurora Highlands through a powerful metaphor: your home is like a book with stories waiting to be written. Milestones are bookmarked and remembered forever, creating your life’s treasured history. The video celebrates the idea that memories are meant to be cherished, and families deserve a home and community worthy of their lives.

The Impact

The video, which previously won a 2024 Gold MAME Award, positions The Aurora Highlands as more than a collection of luxury homes. It’s a place where each day a new page is written, where memories shape who you are and who you will become. By focusing on the emotional journey of homeownership rather than just features and amenities, the video creates an aspirational narrative that resonates with buyers making one of life’s most significant decisions.

Celebrating Partnership and Shared Success

At Milesbrand, we believe that every community and builder has a unique story to tell, but those stories only come to life through partnership. Utilizing strategic branding and creative execution, we work alongside our clients to connect with homebuyers in meaningful ways that drive both emotional resonance and measurable results.

These nominations are a testament to the power of compelling narratives, thoughtful design and integrated marketing campaigns that don't just look good but perform in the marketplace. More importantly, they represent the trust our clients place in us to understand their vision, solve their challenges and deliver work that moves the needle.

We are honored to be recognized alongside so many talented professionals in the homebuilding and real estate development industry. Each of these nominations represents a project where passion, expertise and collaboration came together to create something that resonated with buyers and drove business results.

With 128 Gold Nationals and counting, we're proud to be the world's most awarded real estate branding agency. But what matters most isn't the trophies on the shelf. It's the sales that close, the communities that thrive and the clients who trust us to help them succeed in an increasingly competitive market. These awards exist because of the opportunities presented to us by our amazing clients who dare to do work that stands out.

The Milesbrand team looks forward to celebrating these achievements with our clients at The Nationals awards ceremony in February 2026 at the International Builders' Show in Orlando. Stay tuned as we share updates and celebrate the results! For more information, visit TheNationals.com.