• by Tanya Gazdik , September 16, 2015

Coldwell Banker is entering into two sponsorships that play up the realtor’s commitment to being a leader in technology.

The company will be one of two official sponsors of the Smart Home Marketplace at CES 2016 in Las Vegas from Jan. 6-9.

The second sponsorship is with CNET, where Coldwell Banker is the first real estate company to have a branded content page of original articles, videos and infographics on CNET.com, which attracts more than 32 million consumers in the U.S. each month. Branded content will feature ways that smart technology can make a home more connected, comfortable, convenient and cost-efficient, and will begin rolling out late in the year.

The multifaceted venture with CNET also includes sponsoring the CNET Smart Home in Louisville, Kentucky, a “living laboratory” where the CNET editorial team will explore how smart home products behave, interact and test in everyday environments.

“As a real estate brand, we’ve had our eye on the smart home market for a while now,” Coldwell Banker Chief Marketing Officer Sean Blankenship tells Marketing Daily. “The technology has evolved where it's not just for the affluent or new construction. Smart home technology is now redefining how we engage with our homes, and our agents are the perfect conduit between the technology and consumers."

CNET and CEA are “ideal partners” because “we all have the same goal to help consumers understand how smart home technology can make their homes more connected, comfortable, convenient and cost efficient,” he adds.

As a real estate brand, Coldwell Banker is doing that through our worldwide network of agents as their clients buy and sell homes, he says.

“Working with the world’s largest and most trusted online source of consumer technology news and reviews gives our agents a competitive advantage when a home buyer has questions about smart home technology,” Blankenship says. “In fact, our early research shows that smart homes can sell quicker and for a higher price."

The Smart Home Marketplace at CES has nearly doubled in size since 2015, when Coldwell Banker began its campaign to be the smart home leader in real estate. With attendance expected to reach 150,000 people, the event provides the global stage where next-generation innovations are introduced to the marketplace.

“Sales associates affiliated with the Coldwell Banker network work with hundreds of thousands of home buyers and sellers every year,” Blankenship says. “The brand’s position in the smart home space ensures they are equipped to help their buyers and sellers understand the current trends and benefits of smart home technology, including time and money savings as well as security.”

In August, Coldwell Banker produced a joint consumer survey with CNET, which found that 81% of people with smart home products would be more likely to buy a home if smart technology was already installed. More than one in four Americans owns a smart home device, and nearly half of Millennials are adopting the technology, according to the survey.