Knight Frank · Jason’s previous role

Leading the global digital transformation of a 50-country property consultancy

As Partner and Head of Digital, Jason brought Knight Frank’s country websites, property data and marketing onto one in-house multilingual platform, serving millions of visitors a month in more than 50 countries and 20 languages.

Organisation: Knight Frank
Sector: International real estate
Location: London · EMEA, APAC & Americas
Period: 2001–2017
Website: knightfrank.com(opens in a new tab)

Knight Frank UK, 2017: the redesigned global platform

The challenge

Each Knight Frank country business ran its own website, data structures and marketing. Listings arrived in different formats, design varied from market to market and there was no single view of the firm’s global property offering. Bringing it together was a political challenge as much as a technical one: every country had its own priorities, systems and budget.

What changed

Built a bespoke multilingual CMS from scratch, in-house, bringing every country website onto one platform
Standardised property data formats across country entities, with live residential and commercial feeds arriving daily
Launched the world’s first global property search by a property agency (2009), later extended to commercial and investment property
Converted global property search into 20 languages and made every global website responsive (2013–2015)
Introduced global design, brand and marketing standards, agreed country by country through workshops and executive sponsorship
Launched the first truly global iPhone and iPad property app, integrated with My Knight Frank client alerts (2010)

Jason’s role

Partner and Head of Digital (EMEA, APAC and Americas), reporting to the board. Led an in-house team of 15 (engineers, UX and interface designers, testing, content and SEO), directed marketing and SEO agencies and worked with IT departments worldwide.

Services

Digital strategyDigital transformationPlatform & CMSData standardsGlobal SEO & SEMMobile appsDigital marketingGovernance

Technology

Bespoke multilingual CMSGlobal property searchLive property data feedsiOS appsResponsive webAnalytics

Key features

Global property search across residential, commercial and investment
20 languages, including Arabic and Simplified and Traditional Chinese
Prices in around 50 currencies
Websites for 50+ markets on a single CMS
My Knight Frank client alerts and saved properties
The Wealth Report responsive website and social campaign

Outcome

Knight Frank’s international residential search was named the world’s best real estate agency website at the International Residential Property Awards 2009, held with CNBC. The platform served millions of unique visitors a month, and SEO work grew UK website traffic by 34% year on year in 2016, more than 100,000 additional users.

Winning buy-in across 50 countries

The technology was only half the job. Every country had its own website, data and ways of working, so the programme ran on workshops, meetings and executive sponsorship as much as on code.

Governance
Reported to the board and worked with the Heads of Marketing, IT, Residential, Commercial, International and Research, the Global Head of Finance, and global heads with their marketing and IT teams.
Data standards
Worked with country teams, and with the PrimeLocation and OnTheMarket portal teams, to agree common data formats, optimise platforms and define their digital products.
Design and brand standards
One design system and brand standard applied to every country website, app and campaign.
Marketing standards
Shared SEO, SEM, email, social and content processes, delivered with marketing agencies (teams of around 10) and SEO agencies (teams of around 5).