Marketing
News covering the marketing of residential property, lead generation, buying and selling and business development.
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Zoopla claims 40 branches have returned to it from OTM
Zoopla Property Group has announced that over 40 agent branches have recently returned to it after initially leaving to list with on OnTheMarket, including a raft of multi-branch agencies and several independents. These include Howard Cundey which has 12 branches in Surrey, Sussex and Kent as well as Jeffries with nine branches in Hampshire (including a recent purchase of a single-agent rival). Other smaller but still multi-branch agents include TaylorMilburn with two branches in Essex; Jon Simon with three branches in and around Manchester and Midcalf Nichols, which has two branches in Stourbridge. “Agents now firmly grasp the ZPG value proposition and cannot afford to be at a competitive disadvantage, using services that simply do not deliver value for their business,” says Mark Goddard, Managing Director, ZPG Property Services (pictured, left). “We have the most effective marketing platform, the best software solutions and are now generating new revenue streams for our partners through products such as MoveIT.” Earlier this month the company claimed that in total over 500 agents had returned to it from OnTheMarket. Zoopla currently lists at least 6,446 sales and letting agents on its site while OnTheMarket lists 3,217. These figures do not reflect the number of…
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Hey, young man? YOPA hires Village People for TV campaign
On first viewing the new TV advertising campaign by hybrid agency YOPA looks like a good idea, but will many of the target audience – 30-somethings looking to save on their house move – recognise the stars featured in it? YOPA, which clearly has cash to spend following Savills’ recent £16m investment in the business, has filmed three ads featuring 1970s/1980s disco group Village People – best known for their hits In The Navy and Y.M.C.A. During the first ad which is now on TV the six ageing members of the group are shown discussing whether to ‘move on’ while sat around a kitchen table. Two more ads are to be aired later this year. “The concept of The Village People needing a helping hand to move on proved irresistible for these ads,” says Daniel Attia, co-founder of YOPA (pictured, left). “Aside from the comedy that the situation presents, it’s a message that fundamentally rings true: so many of us delay moving home because the process is so stressful, not to mention hugely expensive.” YOPA started out as an online-only agent and its acronym used to stand for ‘Your Online Property Agent’ but in August last year it changed its business model…
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Fine and Country returns to TV advertising
Fine & Country is re-launching its story-telling TV advertising campaign advert following the success of their advertising campaign in March. The re-launch will run from this September until the end of October. This time the TV advertising campaign gets snappier – with a ten-second advert rather than thirty-seconds. The advert will run again on More 4, Home, 4oD and two new channels Drama and Yesterday. Using the theme of ‘story telling’, the advert focuses on the importance of choosing the right agent who understands how to turn a home into a bestseller. The original thirty-second version of the advert will still be available on the Fine & Country website and YouTube channel. That version shows different life events that happen inside the home, from an exciting birthday party, to the everyday happiness like being with the family dog and a little girl playing in her bedroom. “This is an exciting time for Fine & Country,” said David Lindley, CEO of Fine & Country. “Brand awareness has increased by over 5 per cent within the first three months of the first advert running, and has been viewed over 13 million times. We want this figure to keep growing.” The story telling style…
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Beresfords present home sellers with an Audi A1
Mr & Mrs Plank said, “We were shocked and cried for about an hour!”
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Mini adventure on the Isle of Wight
Hose Rhodes Dickson has seven offices on the Isle of Wight, making it the largest independent agency on the island. They have recently taken delivery of 13 new Minis from Snows Mini, through their Isle of Wight dealership. Matthew White, Partner at Hose Rhodes Dickson, says, “The Minis will be used by our staff, travelling between the many desirable properties across the island.” To celebrate the smart new Minis, the agency (with Snows Mini) has launched a public competition to win a Mini for the weekend, complete with a stay at the Balmer Lawn Hotel in the New Forest. To win the prize, people have to spot the Mini that is number 13 – clues to its whereabouts are being released on the Hose Rhodes Dickson Facebook page and on Twitter. Once spotted, entrants need to take a selfie with the Mini and post it on facebook, Twitter or Instagram, using the hashtag #iowMINIhunt – and tag Hose Rhodes Dickson (@HRDiw) and Snows MINI (@SnowsMINI).
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Keeping cool in London courtesy of Portico
It’s summer in the city and the ice cream vans are everywhere – but find the ones branded Portico!
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OnTheMarket visits rise as Zoopla goes on the buses
Eight million visits recorded in June – an increase of 33 per cent since January, says CEO Ian Springett.
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OnTheMarket is not going off, says CEO
One of last week’s noisier stories in the press and on social media was about OnTheMarket members and theo pen letter from the Competition and Markets Authority(CMA). Ian Springett (left), CEO, OnTheMarket (Agents Mutual)defended the portal’s position and its status with the CMA, asking Jungledrums to remind estate agents about their obligations under competition law when choosing online property portals to advertise their properties. “The CMA has been very clear in cautioning agents to act independently and not to collude. At OnTheMarket.com, we welcome that stance and have consistently given agents precisely the same advice to make any portal selection decisions independently. “For the record, there has been no suggestion from the CMA that OnTheMarket.com has acted improperly in any way. Indeed, in its reminder letter to agents, the CMA explicitly states that, “it has no reason to write to OnTheMarket in this connection at this time.” OnTheMarket certainly needs to defend its position, Mr Springett said, “Success attracts its detractors. The letter from the CMA triggered some predictably opportunistic attacks on us from some who are perhaps sensitive to the impact we are having by injecting competition and increasing choice in a portals market dominated by two big listed…
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In other news – OnTheMarket signs new member!
Estate agency Goadsby which has offices across Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire, has joined OnTheMarket.com. The firm – which was established in 1958 – will now be listing all of its properties for sale and to rent at OnTheMarket.com. Goadsby will continue to advertise its properties on Rightmove as its ‘other portal’. OnTheMarket.com announced earlier this year that the level of overall support for the portal had risen beyond 6,500 estate and letting agent offices across the UK, which was an increase of more than 50 per cent since this time last year. The figure consists of contracted members and agents who have signed a Letter of Intent to join OnTheMarket.com when total support reaches 7,500 offices – which is OnTheMarket.com’s next major milestone. David Errington (left), Group Chief Executive of Goadsby, said, “We are keen to support OnTheMarket.com, the UK’s only agent-owned, agent-controlled portal. “OnTheMarket.com is an excellent portal which enables agents to present themselves and their instructed properties in the best possible way with no distracting non-property advertising or unhelpful information added. This is just one of the reasons we have chosen to join.” Ian Springett, Chief Executive of OnTheMarket.com, said: “We are extremely pleased to be welcoming a…
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OnTheMarket battles continue
It’s been a tortuous few weeks in the property industry, fears about online agents, portal battles, tax hikes and the EU Referendum have combined to make many property people just a bit jittery. Certain people are searching for a fall guy. And they’d like it to be a big one. OnTheMarket is one of the current bookies’ favourites for the role, as disappointed members (some saying 200 disappointed members) attempt to get out of their contracts without paying their fees. As if an internal ruck isn’t enough, coincidentally (or perhaps not) the Competition & Markets Authority, published a statement warning online property portals which prevent those listing homes on them from also listing on rival sites that they may be breaching competition law. One of the founding principles behind it was that any agent wishing to list properties on OnTheMarket would have to choose between either one of its rivals – meaning either Zoopla or Rightmove would lose out. Ann Pope (left) Senior Director, Antitrust, at the Competition and Markets Authority who has a holy name and a worrying title, wrote in an Open Letter to all estate agents that “when an estate agent makes a commercial decision about its…
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