Thinking outside the box

The world's largest estate agents, Century 21, is radically changing the way it advertises and will no longer use TV as a major marketing tool...

It was one of the first estate agencies to use widespread television advertising but this year most of its budget will go on on-line advertising.

The move in favour of the internet is because more people now search on line for properties and it is not due to the credit crunch or cut backs, claimed Beverley Thorne, Senior Marketing Vice-President.

It had previously spent half of its enormous advertising budget on television and its online spend in 2008 was just 10 per cent of its total advertising budget. But recent research and testing showed that its online spend was far more productive and efficient, Ms Thorne said.

Indeed research from the National Association of Realtors showed that in 2008, 87 per cent of highly motivated home buyers used the web to search for a home and most still ended up using a real estate agent.

Thorne said the ability to target consumers interested in making a purchase in the near term was crucial for the company. 'There are a lot of possibilities online not only classic display advertising but a lot of methodologies with search, enhanced listing for real estate properties and enhanced technologies,' she explained.

'Our online investment will be spread across all of those and any other incremental innovative approaches that we work out with key partners,' she added.

She admitted that the company has been watching its spending 'to ensure maximum return for our brokers and agents' but the decision to ditch television advertising was not because of the current economic climate.

Source: www.propertywire.com