• by Karl Greenberg , May 11, 2007

Real estate firm Coldwell Banker has begun exclusive sponsorship of 10 HGTV.com mini-documentary videos under the banner "How to Improve the Value of Your Home." The Parsippany, N.J-based subsidiary of Realogy Corporation is integrating advertising messages, tools and its own content with the videos and Web site.

The videos star Brandie Malay, who is featured on the HGTV cable shows "Hidden Potential" and "Designed to Sell," which is also sponsored by Coldwell Banker. Each video outlines the steps that homeowners can take to raise the asking prices of their houses.

"We believe strongly that video works," says Charlie Young, senior vice president, marketing for Coldwell Banker. He says the company currently has more 40 videos on its own Web site, coldwellbanker.com, "many of them produced for us by HGTV."

"When this opportunity to partner with HGTV on their new webisodes came to us, we loved it. They clearly understand our goal ... There has been a noted shift in the real estate space over the last few years. The consumer now has upfront control. They are spending months online acclimating themselves to the buying and selling process."

Young said that during this "infotainment" stage of home shopping consumers spend some leisure time online surfing listings and looking at real estate Web sites.

"Our goal is to meet them during this stage and make Coldwell Banker a brand they come to learn from and trust. Then, when they are ready to actively enter the home buying and selling stage, they are well informed and prepared to work with one of our sales associates.

"HGTV.com has long been one of the sites where the consumer visits during the infotainment stage. By partnering with sites like HGTV, which are known fishing holes, we are able to efficiently generate traffic to coldwellbanker.com."

The "visitors' entrance" to each video is preceded by a 15-second Coldwell Banker spot and the coldwellbanker.com search engine. Search tools such as CB's home value estimator and find-an-agent offerings are integrated with the videos.

Young says Coldwell Banker has already gotten more than 17,000 inquiries about local offices and sales associates from HGTV.com's webisodes area. "This is our ultimate goal, to drive qualified traffic from our national portal, coldwellbanker.com, to the local franchisees. It is working."