CASE STUDY:
KING’S VILLAGE – SOUTH EAST BURLINGTON
King’s Village is a collection of 62 resale townhomes that were built in the 1970’s in South East Burlington. It was a rental community for several decades. The owner/developer decided to convert the rentals to a condo townhome community for sale and sell the units in an “AS IS” condition. Creativo Advertising was engaged to create a comprehensive marketing launch campaign for the sale of these units. Although the duration of the launch campaign was short, the results exceeded our expectations.
PROJECT SCOPE
- Market Research
- Pricing Strategy
- Marketing Concept & Strategy
- Branding & Signage Design
- Website Development
- Content Creation
- Video & Photography
- Digital & Print Advertising
The Strategy
Our team at Creativo Advertising researched and developed a competitive pricing strategy to support selling the townhome units “AS IS” albeit a challenging task.
Consequently, we created a branding story that involved the prospective buyer using a bit of imagination and creativity in order to transform their own condo townhome into the home of their dreams. The tag line “This is Your Home, This is Your Canvas” was developed to support the notion that buyers are buying a blank canvas where they could renovate or update their unit according to their vision and budget.
Finally, we wanted to show buyers what a townhome could look like with a bit of elbow grease and décor. We engaged the a design team to create a model townhome which would also serve as a presentation centre. Floor plans were hung as canvasses in the front entrance of the model suite so that prospective buyers could review floor plans in a creative way.
CHALLENGES
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The townhomes were being sold “AS IS” direct from the builder without real agent assistance.
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Most buyers prefer to buy homes that are new and renovated.
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King’s Village needed to be repositioned from rental units to condo townhome units for sale.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
This large scale project required many different teams (agency, suppliers, contractors, design team, owner/developer) and deadlines in order to complete and launch. With Creativo at the helm, we focused on teamwork, communication and time management. We completed this task in 30 days.
Marketing Goals
- Position King’s Village as an affordable place to live for the end user and investor
- Create awareness for King’s Village through signage, traditional and online advertising
- Appeal to existing renters as an opportunity to buy
- Produce a series of professional lifestyle photography and videos to be used for advertising and branding purposes to sell King’s Village.
- Use location as a key selling factor (ie. Burlington rated as a #1 place to live in Canada according to Maclean’s Magazine, proximity to amenities and transit) – maximized in digital and print advertising
- Show the “AS IS” units first and then unveil the model home to potential buyers (making the opportunity easy and attractive)
- Leverage Google Ads & Social Media to drive leads and sign ups on web site for on-site sales rep to convert
Website Development
Within the first 28 days of launch of the new King’s Village – South East Burlington website, there were over 2.4K users. These stats proved incredible growth in traffic through our marketing and advertising campaign efforts. Potential buyers are returning to the site for more information, are viewing floor plans and watching videos. The site has established a professional brand for King’s Village and provides users with information at their fingertips.
PROJECT SCOPE
- Website Design
- Responsive Web Development
- Form & Mailing List Integration
- Google Ads Integration
Advertising Media
With a limited budget, Creativo focused on creating a targeted advertising program that continued for 2-3 months as part of the launch campaign. King’s Village is located in the most desirable area in Burlington. We wanted to emphasize this key selling feature as part of our strategy. In addition, we wanted to appeal to existing residents as there is very little inventory for sale in Burlington. Consequently, we secured ads at the three closest Go Stations to King’s Village to attract the attention of commuters. The median travelling time between each of the Go Stations and King’s Village is 9 Minutes.
Another key selling feature for the townhomes is that they are spacious. And so, we created the tagline “There is room for the whole family” and used it in our advertising.
We secured similar ads in the Burlington Post. As part of our digital strategy, we placed various types of display and scrolling ads in the Toronto Star. In addition, we engaged in targeted Google Display ads and retargeting ads to present King’s Village as an opportunity to prospective buyers. Finally, we ran a short social media campaign with a series of ads that garnered tremendous results in a mere 28 days.
Video Strategy
Video #1 – Teaser Video
PURPOSE: The first video “Teaser Video” was created to solicit leads and capture the attention of prospective buyers prior to the completion of the model suite.
CONCEPT: This teaser video involved the use of drone/aerial footage of the King’s Village Community as well as the waterfront. We also filmed local amenities as well as the exterior of the townhomes (rather than the interiors as they homes were being sold “as-is” and were in varying shape). In addition, at this point of the project the model home was still being renovated. We needed a marketing asset to use on the web site as well as on social media to encourage registrations.
Proud winners of the
2019 GOLD DOTCOM Awards
for our video work!
Video #2 – Time Laps Design Video
PURPOSE: The second video “Time lapse” video was created for social media and paid ads in order to encourage potential buyers to use their creativity and imagination. With a little bit of vision, an “as is” unit was transformed in a beautiful and functional model suite.
CONCEPT: We engaged designer Alexandra Assaf from Arc Interiors and her design team to stage the living and dining spaces of the model suite. We wanted to add fun and show homeowners how easy it is to transform their own “as is” units.
Video #3 – Lifestyle Video
PURPOSE: To tell a story about King’s Village and it’s future homeowners. We wanted to showcase the beauty of the model suite, incorporate branding as well as tell a compelling story about a typical homebuyer.
CONCEPT: We hired professional actors to help us showcase the beautiful waterfront in Burlington. We also wanted to position the King’s Village community and model suite townhome as centre stage. Our lead actress is an artist who is inspired by the beauty of Lake Ontario. She paints a canvas and brings it home to show her husband and son. The artwork is immediately hung in the kitchen. We see the family live in different rooms of the home and come together in the heart of the house – the kitchen.
The Results
We were able to achieve outstanding results within an extremely short time. From start the finish, the campaign continued for three months. Our advertising efforts launch efforts occurred over a period of 30-45 days in total. We are very pleased with the results – have a look!
- Conversion Rate – 90%
- Return Users – 77%
- Social Following – 85%
Website Traffic
Google Views
FB Post Reach
FB Post Engagement
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