Top Marketers Podcast: Multifamily Branding That Evolves With Resident Expectations

August 12, 2026

AVE's Ashley Cerasaro and MHN's Corina Stef discuss how strong brands evolve through authentic storytelling, resident feedback and a deep understanding of changing renter expectations.

image depicting the guest and host of the top marketers podcast — In this episode, Ashley Cerasaro shares how AVE has grown a national apartment brand by balancing consistency, innovation and authenticity. *Image by Chunyip Wong/iStockphoto.com*

Strong multifamily branding isn’t built through campaigns alone. In today’s apartment industry, long-term success depends on understanding changing renter expectations, listening to resident feedback and delivering a consistent brand experience across every touchpoint—from digital interactions to everyday life inside the community.

This episode of Multi-Housing News’ Top Marketers podcast explores how a hospitality-driven multifamily brand scales its marketing and communications while preserving a consistent voice and resident-first culture across expanding markets.

Joining us is Ashley Cerasaro, executive vice president of Communications at AVE, the hospitality-inspired apartment brand from Korman Communities, a fifth-generation family-owned real estate company. Today, AVE’s portfolio spans more than 6,000 apartments across 20-plus communities nationwide. Over the past 14 years, Cerasaro has helped shape the company’s multifamily brand strategy, overseeing public relations, resident communications, online reputation management, social media, corporate messaging and brand positioning.

Most recently, she played a leading role in AVE’s national brand evolution and redesigned digital platform, initiatives that reflect the company’s rapid expansion and the growing demand for flexible apartment living. She also helped develop AVE’s resident survey program, which has contributed to the company’s industry-leading resident satisfaction rankings for four consecutive years.

Key topics include maintaining brand integrity across many touchpoints, aligning communications with on-site operations through training and cultural leadership, using resident feedback and survey data to shape amenities and messaging, redesigning a digital platform to support seamless search and adopting AI for efficiency and faster insights without losing authenticity.