Calif. Realtors Launch Testimonial Campaign

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The California Association of Realtors is launching an integrated campaign that features testimonials from satisfied consumers.

The effort, from Philadelphia-based Red Tettemer + Partners, marks a change in strategy for the association with creative that is much more "consumer inclusive and conversational." Spending is under $2 million.

Titled "Champions of Home," the campaign was created in direct response to the economically challenged real estate market, to show consumers they can rely on their realtor. The multiplatform campaign features homeowners in California, telling their individual stories of buying and selling homes and how their realtors helped conquer the process.

The stories focus on everything from short sales to epic tales of paperwork and highlight realtors as experienced professionals guiding them toward closing. The campaign targets first-time homebuyers and sellers in California.

Media includes cable TV heavy in major California markets including Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego, and will include HGTV, AEN and Bravo Networks within "House Hunters," "Sell this House," "Design Star," "Property Virgins" and "Million Dollar Listing."

Traffic radio will air across 17 markets and more than 145 stations. Online display will blanket the state of California. There will also be a number of social media efforts, primarily focused on Facebook and Twitter. All areas will drive to a microsite, Champions of Home.

The Facebook and Twitter elements will roll out throughout September at facebook.com/CAREALTORS, twitter.com/#!/CAREALTORS and ChampionsofHome.com.

The association launched its first consumer advertising initiative in 1997 to raise awareness in terms of differentiating association members from non-member real estate agents. That first campaign was specifically focused on brand differentiation, says Anne Framroze, vice president, California Association of Realtors. "We then moved to new campaign creative in 2007, when we partnered with Campbell-Ewald," she says. "This campaign focused primarily on the value of homeownership, and the value of working with a realtor." That effort aired from 2007 until last year, on TV, radio, and online.

The latest effort represents an entirely new direction given its focus on featuring real consumers speaking directly and from the heart -- without the aid of scripts -- about the home-buying and home-selling process, she says.

"We realize that in today's socially networked environment, focusing less on what we want to promote and more on what the public has to say is the best way to connect with consumers who have the capacity to access a variety of information via a multitude of channels," Framroze tells Marketing Daily. "We want to be as authentic as possible, and we anticipate that this type of campaign strategy will continue to build virally and organically, and ultimately will resonate best across a broad spectrum of home buyers and sellers who might see themselves in similar situations."

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0 comments on "Calif. Realtors Launch Testimonial Campaign ".

1. Susan Von Seggern from SvS PR
   

   commented on: August 26, 2011 at 2:12 p.m.

   Wow, you'd think that in the name of helping the California economy the California Association of Realtors could have used an LA or SF based agency for their campaign. Unbelievable.

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