TRICKS OF THE TRADE. In their own words, how Cressey and its sales and marketing contractor became ‘movie’ producers
Cam McNeill and Marcella Munro
Sun
Web-marketing has been embraced by the real estate industry, but for the most part it has been through email contact with prospective buyers, web site design and the occasional virtual tour.
Last summer, Cressey Development Group and MAC Marketing decided to produce an online video series to tell the story of life at Donovan – our latest new-home project in Yaletown.
We knew enough about what we and our friends watch on YouTube and the Web to know we didn’t want an infomercial. We wanted something fun, urban, chic and sexy – something we could pass on to our friends and that they could pass on to their friends.
We asked Vancouver Eirector Roger Evan Larry for a short “viral” lifestyle comedy in the tradition of Sex and the City. Inspired by our request, he came back with a script for whole half hour featuring a great story and truly rich characters.
But with a half hour script and only a five minute budget Roger made a proposal:That Cressey sponsor this half hour and release it as five ”webisodes” instead of oneshow.
In exchange for cash and use of Cressey locations including the Donovan presentation centre, we made a deal that would give Cressey the right to use the series for our marketing campaign.
We hoped it would be a fabulous and exciting evocation of what Donovan the development would be – but without the usual obvious pitch. It turned out to work for all concerned, and then some. You can see for yourself at donovanlife.com on the Internet.
Donovan Life tells the story of Anya, a young professional woman who leaves her commitment-phobic boyfriend for her best gay friend, Dougal, and his luxurious new Yaletown apartment which just happens to be at Donovan.
Over five “webisodes,” Anya and Dougal try to get to the bottom of their mysterious metro-sexual neighbour’s dating preference, as Anya decides whether to go back to her boyfriend or start her life anew by moving into Donovan.
In producing Donovan Life, our goal was to come up with a concept and produce a series that would project the lifestyle of the building and the community — something that would create buzz for the development, and entice potential buyers to find out more.
From the beginning we understood that to have the kind of impact we were hoping to have we had to ensure that, above all, the videos were entertaining.
We think Roger, his writing partner and wife Sandy Tomc, and their entire team came up a story an an look and feel for the series that was both entertaining, and represented Donovan well. Who wouldn’t want to live next door to Will & Grace?
Why would we spend money on such a risky proposition?
There is, of course, no replacement for the traditional forms of marketing and public relations necessary to successfully launch a real estate development, or any other product for that matter
You have to give people what they want in a great location, and ensure the design and features are unique enough to make headlines. To get the message out, you still need to brand each project well, and use print advertising and direct mail effectively.
But we all know that what worked five years ago, last year, or even last month doesn’t always work the same way today. People always want to be engaged in new ways, and in the past two years, the Internet has dramatically changed the way people are engaging with each other, and seeking entertainment.
You only need to look at the effectiveness of online video campaigns such as those developed by BMW and Dove soap to understand how viral video can strengthen a brand.
Both the award-winning BMW Hire series and the Dove Real Beauty campaign have altered the perception of these products, and heightened their profiles considerably. And millions of dollars have been spent by companies trying to imitate their success.
In fact, last summer Business Week Online estimated the production and distribution of viral web ads is now a global $100 to $150 million industry.
While this still represents only a fraction of the world’s advertising pie, there’s no doubt that people’s changing habits when it comes to using the web for not just information but entertainment must change the way we all think about marketing and branding.
Of course, you don’t have to spend millions of dollars to reach people with viral video – we didn’t. In some ways, this kind of communication is a marketers dream because if it’s good enough, once you put it out there, you are truly relying on building “word of mouth” and on individuals to pass it on for it to be successful.
As we all know, this kind of personal recommendation can be powerful stuff. And for an industry such as real estate, where decisions are based on a complex combination of logic and emotions, these new tools can be an extraordinarily helpful in getting our message across.
As in all marketing and public relations efforts, the question is: Was Donovan Life campaign a success?
In terms of generating buzz, there’s no question. Hits on the “Donovan Life” website averaged about 670 a day after our traditional advertising campaign began on January 8th, peaking at approximately 4,000 hits the day before we released the first video.
On the day we released the first webisode, traffic spiked to almost 20,000 hits, and averaged more than 15,000 hits a day for the ten days over which the entire five webisodes were released.
As well, the series and our marketing strategy around garnered interest not just in the local media, but from the Chicago Tribune, the Financial Times of Germany, and around the world through bloggers and websites too numerous to count, including FastCompany.com, futureofrealestatemarketing. com, MarketingVox, culturebuzz.com and Adrants.
Through this project, we not only increased awareness of Donovan, but we also the strength of the Cressey and MAC brands by continuing to be leaders in innovation when it comes to marketing and portraying the lifestyle we’re creating with each project we develop.
There are of course some risks with this kind of approach. To get noticed among the ever-increasing wave of video, being launched through the Web everyday, you need to be prepared to do something slightly more edgy than the usual ad campaign. In the case of “Donovan Life,” we had to be willing to accept that some people may be offended by some of the language. We put a warning on the series to that affect, but we also felt the material and acting was more than funny enough to warrant the dialogue. In the end, we received almost no negative comments from this series.
As for sales, we sold 82 of the 152 homes on our first release to “friends and family” on Feb. 18, and appointments and interest in the remaining homes has been strong ever since.
Most of the buyers have seen Donovan Life and enjoyed it, and from our perspective, it certainly set us and the development apart by representing the vital, sexy, urban luxury lifestyle Donovan offers.
There’s no question Donovan’s profile was increased by the web series, and that it made people pay more attention. We believe people will always buy the best product, and Donovan’s features, amenities and design are why we had such immediate success. But it’s our responsibility to keep up with the public and ensure we are engaging them in whatever creative and entertaining ways that we can. And in our minds producing innovative online video has definitely become one strategy worth considering.
Cam McNeill is the co-owner of MAC Marketing Solutions. Marcella Munro is the new media & communications manager of the Cressey Development Group.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
