Market Smarts: Getting Connected

Imagine waiting for a commuter train, checking messages and e-mail on your PDA or cell phone, and receiving an alert ping asking if you'll accept a 30-second sound bite about a builder offering new homes in the area. That's just one high-tech marketing method employed by T.H. Properties (THP), one of the nation's fastest-growing private builders, to boost awareness of its metro-Philadelphia neighborhoods and sell the 600 homes it plans to start this year.

In addition to blanketing its target markets with 76 Bluetooth-enabled billboards and compatible wireless transmitters at train station hubs to help drive traffic to its Web site, THP created a subset of its online presence for original video programming of basic home buying and maintenance tips. Called THPtv, the site took a year to develop and is updated weekly with new videos covering everything from a primer on title insurance to home care issues—as well as a burgeoning archive of content. The spots are also made available on multiple video sharing sites, thus spreading the THP message even further. “The YouTube phenomenon has shown that you can provide home video [production quality] as long as the content is valuable,” says Bob Gollwitzer, THP's director of marketing.

BLOWIN' UP: Billboards and other signs posted around the Philly area transmit digital postcards to cell phone and PDA users about THP's properties, while a series of helpful videos are available on a special Web site (inset).

As if that wasn't enough, THP also created THP-mobi, an evolution of the Bluetooth billboards, that transmits digital postcards to a cell phone or PDAabout specific homes, special offers or promotions, or new communities. The technology, says Gollwitzer, suits the majority of buyers, who use the Internet and related technology to search for new homes. Since launching the campaigns in mid-2006, the builder sold 175 more homes than in the previous 12-month period.

Program: THPtv and THP-mobi (online awareness and branding campaigns);
Builder: T.H. Properties, Harleysville, Pa.;
Cost: 1 percent of sales;
Advertising agency: Bergey Creative Group, Harleysville

Ultimate Giveaway

Van Metre Homes offers a free home to prospects to generate traffic and best its annual sales total in a competitive market.

Faced with tightening market conditions in the Washington, D.C., metro area, Van Metre Homes decided that the cars and diamond jewelry offered by other builders as enticements weren't quite enough to help reach its sales goals. So it upped the ante, offering a new, townhome-styled condo unit valued at $415,000 to one lucky winner.

Culling registration forms from its communities, the builder drew five finalists at monthly events during the half-year campaign, thereby encouraging prospects to visit its communities and register for the drawing multiple times to improve their chances—and the builder's conversion rate. Van Metre held a special event last February to award the prize from the 30 finalists. Labeled the “No Worries Home Giveaway” to complement the builder's overall buyer-focused philosophy, the campaign drew enough sales traffic to enable Van Metre Homes to top its record-setting 2005 sales total by one house—an impressive feat given that the effort occurred during the traditionally slower second half of the year and in a suffering market. “Traffic was really slow, even for that time of year,” recalls Krista Peterson, Van Metre's design center manager. “We looked at other giveaways, but this one tied to what we do and took our ‘No Worries' theme to a new level.”

TOP PRIZE: Using a multi-faceted advertising campaign to drive interest in its “No Worries” home giveaway, Van Metre Homes was able to top its sales record from the previous year in an otherwise down market.

The builder leveraged a multipoint media campaign, including Redskins Radio, a local station for the area's NFL team, to drive awareness of the giveaway and its communities. Redskin cheerleaders attended each monthly event and the final drawing, where former player Joe Jacoby plucked the winner's name, who ended up applying the value to another, higher-priced Van Metre home.

Program: No Worries Home Giveaway;
Builder: Van Metre Homes, Ashburn, Va.;
Cost: $415,000, the value of the home;
Advertising agency: Fraser Wallace Advertising, Dulles, Va.

Back to the Future

A creative online video campaign about a frozen butcher gains some notoriety—and sales—for a Chicago high-rise.

Some people never got it, but that wasn't really the point of the month-long online video promotion for R+D659, a new 17-story condo project in Chicago. Whether or not everyone understood the relationship between the fictional Artie, frozen for 99 years in his butcher's freezer only to emerge in a revitalized West Loop, and the myriad features of the 237-unit high-rise in that neighborhood, quite a crowd followed his five-part adventure series on the project's Web site, via e-mail, onto open share sites such as Viral Videos and YouTube ... and into the sales office, where the developer secured 21 contracts during the campaign.

“The ‘Adventures of Artie' was an entertaining way to convey R+D659's energy and brand,” says Gavin Stein, vice president for developer Mesirow Financial Real Estate. “We were willing to take risks with the campaign to truly differentiate the project.” The videos also made it easy for young professional buyers to pass around the Artie spots among their computers, handheld devices, and Web sites. Stein started the ball rolling with a list of 250,000 qualified e-mail accounts to receive a link to the project's Web site and a teaser of the first video.

ART IMITATES ARTIE: Frozen for nearly a century in his freezer, fictional (and digital) West Loop butcher Artie discovers the features and benefits of R+D659, a new Chicago condo project targeting young professionals, in an entertaining series of online videos.

The timing also kick-started the traditional home buying season and was supplemented by sponsored events to further spread the word. Artie himself made a live appearance at a public event launching the last spot, which alone netted five sales.

Program: The Adventures of Artie (Web-based video series);
Developer: Mesirow Financial Real Estate, Chicago;
Builder: DAGS Desplaines, Chicago;
Architect: Brininstool + Lynch, Chicago;
Contractor: @properties, Chicago;
Cost: $75,000;
Advertising agency: Taylor Johnson Associates, Chicago