The Brisbane brand is embracing a different side of summer in its latest marketing campaign, 'One Summer Day'.
Place is on a mission to make the city’s property market “come alive” during the hottest months of the year, with the South-East Queensland network eager to capitalise on Australians’ dreams of a sea- or tree-change that can often follow on from Christmas holidays and time spent away from work.
While buyer activity often drops through the end of December, the brand noted that 1 January often kicks off a surge in property searches. But there aren’t always the listings to match.
Place’s head of marketing, Gareth Gower, commented that much of the slowdown could be attributed to the industry taking time off during the start of the year.
But this year, the network’s CEO, Damian Hackett, said the brand has decided to challenge convention: “We are making the Brisbane property market come alive in January.”
Managing director, Paul Curtain, explained that the main event will be a mass auction day on 31 January, which has been branded “One Summer Day”, and will see 80-plus properties hit the block.
“We are getting asked: Why this time of year? Well, industry insights show us that buyer traffic across real estate portals drops off across December, however, enquiry increases from 1 January, which is indicative of people having more time on their hands.”
“They are looking at the new year with fresh eyes, in search of fresh opportunities,” Mr Curtain explained.
The brand sees this as a way for their agents to get off to a “flying start” in 2024, with the team embracing the idea of timing campaigns to this potentially untapped time of year.
“In the past, our summer campaigns have been image-based – surfing, ice creams, swimming pools, beach umbrellas – but this year, we wanted to focus on a message, rather than an image. That message is that we are working all summer at Place to be there for our sellers during a time of the year when it is great to sell,” Mr Gower said.
The season-long advertising campaign, which complements the January event, makes use of an eye-catching orange gradient to draw attention to the fact that the market is open for business.
“People tend to have more time on their hands over this period, and the new year is always a catalyst for change, so this increase in buyer demand means it’s a great time of year to sell as vendors can stand out during a time of traditionally fewer listings,” Mr Gower said.
“Focusing that buyer interest on an auction event is the perfect way to jump start the market and enable our agents to generate momentum for the rest of the year,” he added.
The campaign will be delivered across “the three core levels of our business: brand, agency and agent,” he explained.
“At a brand level, we invest heavily in digital marketing across the whole season to let sellers know it is a great time of year to consider selling, and to let buyers know there will be a significant number of properties available to purchase via the ‘One Summer Day’ auction event,” Mr Gower added.
Looking ahead into the coming year, the network promised that mass auction events will be making up a bigger part of its strategy to capture attention of buyers and sellers alike.
“This won’t be the last time we tie a seasonal campaign to a big auction event, and we have already mapped out how we can use things like this in 2024 to bring sellers and buyers together and to help everyone find their happy Place,” Mr Gower said.