Move Inc. which manages the homebuying/selling website, realtor.com is releasing its biggest ad campaign ever, directed by Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated actor Fred Savage and starring Pitch Perfect 2’s director Elizabeth Banks. (She also played GAIL in PP1 and 2) Banks is also one of the stars featured in The Hunger Games as Effie Trinket! This multi-tasking wonder of a woman also does commercials.
Ms. Banks’ realtor.com® campaign unfolds against the backdrop of a market seismically altered by the recent acquisition of realtor.com®’s operating company by media giant News Corp and the merger of competitors Zillow and Trulia. At stake are online home listings and homes-for-sale ads exceeding $9 billion annually.
“Serving buyers, sellers and renters of properties with the best information and tools anytime, anywhere and communicating the value brokers and agents provide as trusted guides through the process is our utmost priority,” said Ryan O’Hara, chief executive officer of Move. “This is what we mean by what’s real in real estate – and what sets us apart.”
It is a message that is at the heart of realtor.com®’s new advertising, which revolves around a series of 15- and 30-second TV spots and longer-form web videos featuring Elizabeth Banks, the Emmy-nominated actress, producer and director who is among Hollywood’s most sought after and versatile performers.
Regarding her interest in participating in the realtor.com® campaign:
Ms. Banks said: “I’m a little house obsessed and looking for a new home right now, which made the opportunity to work on the new realtor.com® ad campaign a great fit. I love the accessibility of realtor.com®. My husband and I email each other photos of houses to look at and the other person can pull them right up – no matter where they are. The realtor.com® app literally allows you to take the home buying experience with you everywhere in your daily life.”
In the campaign’s first spot, called “Jim,” she observes the title character using the realtor.com® website to find his dream home. “You’re a real-time real estate renegade there, Jim Bob,” she says. “An arbiter of accuracy. A phenom of fresh listings. A master of mortgage rates. A ruler of refinancing. An emperor of escrow. Jim, let’s live in that house together.”
Jim Bob is using Realtor.com!
The new ads are intended to appeal to a wide consumer target – from millennials looking for small, low-priced homes for themselves and their pets to young couples looking for more space on tight budgets to families looking for bigger, longer-term homes.
For repeat buyers, the realtor.com® message is delivered by an integrated advertising positioning the brand as the best tool for homebuyers looking to make the smartest, most informed purchase decisions. For first-time buyers, who account for roughly one-third of U.S. home sales in a typical year, the approach will feature branded content presented in a so-called “edutainment” format positioning realtor.com® as a trusted ally demystifying the real estate process.
In the new realtor.com® campaign – themed “real estate in real time” – Ms. Banks displays all of her characteristic charm, humor, glamour and sass in demonstrating how the brand’s website and mobile apps help people find their dream homes.
Constant Change
After finishing shooting the realtor.com campaign, Fred Savage is going to take a break from directing and will return to the small screen as an actor coming up soon in a new Fox series “The Grinder,” also starring Rob Lowe. Savage has been behind the camera directing favorite shows including Modern Family, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Phil of the Future, Wizards of Waverly Place and Zeke and Luther. He also directed commercials for a number of leading consumer businesses, including the California Milk Board, Farmers Insurance and Fitbit.
Pitch Perfect, directed and starring by Banks opened on Friday May 15 and made over $70 million in its’ opening weekend- more than the total box office for the original Pitch Perfect! To date, Pitch Perfect 2 has earned $149 million.
I think of these commercials as short vignettes of seeing Elizabeth Banks injecting her incisive humor and wit into these commercials!
Stevie Wilson,
LA-Story.com
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The ad is cute. All things will be done with apps soon, and for very good reason.