Re/Max Integra wants to simplify the home buying and selling process.
The real estate company has always known the experience to be a stressful one for consumers, but even it had underestimated the degree to which that is the case, says Anthony Volpini, director of marketing at Re/Max Integra in Toronto.
A recent company survey pegged buying and selling a home as the second-most stressful experience for consumers, behind getting divorced. Put differently, the survey found real estate transactions induce more stress than taking care of an elderly parent and raising a child, says Volpini. And that sentiment was more or less the same across North America, which is one of the reasons Re/Max took a North American-wide approach to the latest iteration of its “The Sign of a Re/Max Agent” campaign.
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The campaign includes a series of spots featuring two different taglines, both new for the brand. They showcase a range of stressful home-buyer and seller scenarios that are easily resolved with the help of expert Re/Max agents. A mix of longer-form, 15- and 30-second spots showcase the skills and expertise its agents have and include the tagline “The Experience. The Tools. The Know-How. That’s the Sign of a Re/Max agent.” Shorter, more playful spots were designed specifically for social media and end with the tagline, “Don’t Worry We’ve Done This a Million Times.”
Launched with additional OOH creative, the company is looking to stay top-of-mind heading into the early spring home-buying season, to support lead generation and to get customers to visit its website.
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Further to the consumer survey showing how stressful the process can be, Volpini says Re/Max identified two things it feels makes it unique in the market: first, its agents are the “most productive” in number of houses sold per year; second, they are the “most experienced” by their average number of years spent in the industry. Based on those insights, he says it decided to focus on how working with a Re/Max agent means getting that “deep knowledge and know-how that takes the stress out of the home buying experience.”
San Francisco-based Camp and King led the campaign, with creative support from Re/Max Integra creative director David McFarlane, based in Toronto.
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It’s the first time the Canadian marketing team worked with the U.S. on the creative; it typically runs its own campaigns. Past Canada-specific campaigns were not as much “fun” and not as differentiated, says Volpini. The company decided to work with the U.S. after having really enjoyed the creative coming out of that market last year. While the work was initially deemed unsuitable for the Canadian market, Re/Max’s local team got involved earlier on in the process this year to ensure the look, feel and media buy – conducted by UM – worked for Canadian audiences. For example, a doggy door prominently featured in one spot was removed from the Canadian version based on local market considerations, says Volpini.
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Re/Max is targeting the roughly 25 to 45-year-old demographic, a group that consists of both first-time buyers and “move-up buyers” moving into their second home.
The campaign creative, then, had to speak to groups with different concerns and levels of experience, says Volpini: first-time buyers who often lack knowledge, need reassurance and are looking to make their first connection with an agent; and move-up buyers, who have already established a relationship with a agent and are more interested in maximizing the value of their home. The creative aims to address the needs of both groups.
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