• by Tanya Gazdik , October 31, 2013

Century 21 is playing on the Halloween holiday to assure consumers that even “haunted” houses are no problem for its realtors.

And it’s not just a joke. Haunted houses may not seem like prime real estate -- but a recent survey by Realtor.com found that 62% of people are open to purchasing a haunted home. And Century 21 agents are up to the challenge.

In the spirit of Halloween, the Century 21 brand has created a series of spooky spots about a few houses that seem normal on the surface, but underneath it all, are slightly haunted.

This is the brand’s first Halloween effort, says Bev Thorne, Century 21 Real Estate chief marketing officer.

“Our goal with this activation is to have some fun around Halloween while surprising and delighting consumers,” Thorne tells Marketing Daily. “This is an example of real-time marketing. For our brand, reaching home buyers and sellers at the point of consideration is critical -- and real-time marketing enables us to do just that.”

According to a CMO.com study, consumers are 22% more likely to consider a brand as a result of real-time marketing.

“So when we plan our marketing activations, we are always strategically thinking about real-time tactics to wow consumers, particularly focusing on how we can tie the brand into breaking news or pop culture trends. This is a fun example of just that,” Thorne says.

The videos are available on YouTube. The realtor is promoting the effort on Twitter with the hashtag #SlightlyHaunted as well as on Instagram and Facebook.

While the videos are intended to surprise and delight consumers on and around Halloween, they will remain available on the YouTube channel indefinitely.

The marketing is aligned around the Century 21 brokers and agents. Whether it’s a 2-bedroom condo with a view or a 3-bath cape that’s slightly haunted, Century agents can handle it -- hence the tagline, “yeah, we could sell that.”