• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, February 20, 2006

Coldwell Banker launched its new ad campaign Sunday night on prime-time television, but rather than simply plug its brand, the 15-second spots are expressly designed to drive consumers online. Indeed, the ads, created by Publicis Groupe's Kaplan Thaler, focus mainly on laptops streaming video featured on the company's Web site.

"The Web site is the real focus," said Charlie Young, senior vice president of marketing for Coldwell Banker. Young cited National Association of Realtors research, which found that three out of every four home buyers now conduct preliminary research for purchasing a new home online.

The campaign also includes a significant online ad buy, said Young. Display advertising will appear through the year across major portals like MSN and Yahoo, as well as more targeting buys such as MarthaStuart.com and HGTV.com. Kinesis Marketing, Coldwell's online agency of record, is handling everything--including a major search marketing campaign across all major search engines.

Young added that the company plans to increase its online spend by 30 percent this year.

Specifically, the campaign is pushing a number of services for buyers and sellers--all of which can be found online--like a side-by-side home comparison feature, the "Home Value Estimator," a sales associate locator, and the four essential questions consumers should ask real estate associates.

Commercials will run during prime-time airings of "Law & Order," "Crossing Jordan," and "Grey's Anatomy"--the spots interspersed "60 Minutes" on Sunday night. They will also run on cable.