The housing market continues to be a point of contention for people struggling with rising interest rates, soaring rents and a lack of housing supply. So many changes and challenges have completely changed the strategies of marketers and advertisers in this space.
Zillow estimates that more than 4 million homes are needed on the market in the U.S. to close the gap between households in need of housing and available housing units. Meanwhile, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is 7.83% and the typical rent in the U.S. is $2,047, up 3.2% from a year ago. As homebuyers and renters feel the squeeze, Opendoor and Realtor.com are reshaping their media mixes to maintain brand awareness.
Opendoor is on a mission to become a nationally recognized brand. The company saw its media spend drop 80% year-over-year, but increased its total share of brand spend from 13.2% to 21.6% year-over-year to maintain brand awareness. To do this, the company leverages media channels such as not only linear TV, but also connected TV, radio, broadcast, social media, and sponsorships.
said David Corns, CMO of Opendoor. “We were able to use our media plan as a way to build in flexibility while staying true to our goals.” I was able to shape it.”
As for TV, “we were doing a good job before the pivot of showing how national, targeted media can build brand awareness with the right creative messaging.” Instead of avoiding it in 2023, they actually used it as a baseline. National TV [ads] continued. ”
Opendoor previously focused on organic and paid social media as well. But this year, Opendoor is testing influencer marketing on TikTok and Instagram.
Realtor.com, on the other hand, spent more on marketing this year due to the competitive nature of the current housing environment. Mickey Neuberger, chief marketing officer of Realtor.com, part of media company News Corp., said the company is increasing its digital spending and prioritizing digital and other direct-response channels over terrestrial TV. It is said that there is.
However, like Opendoor, Realtor.com maintains its investment in linear TV to account for increased digital ad spending and maintains baseline levels of investment in news and lifestyle channels on linear TV . (Realtor.com CMO Mickey Neuberger declined to provide details of the investment.)
“For us, TV is just a high-reach, high-frequency channel,” Neuberger said. “While we measure the performance of all channels, TV remains a very high-performing way to drive traffic to your site.”
It’s unclear what those expenses will be, as Neuberger declined to provide specific numbers. From January to July of this year, Realtor.com spent at least $111.6 million on media, including paid social data from Pathmatics, significantly more than $76.4 million during the same period last year, according to Vivvix. Ta.
From January to June of this year, Opendoor spent more than $26 million on ads that included paid social data from Pathmatics, according to Vivvix. This figure is slightly lower than the $34.4 million spent during the same period last year. Last year, the company spent a total of $71.6 million on media.
Advertising on small screens isn’t necessarily trending, as linear TV advertising doesn’t rank among marketers’ top five media channels in Kantar’s 2023 Media Reactions report. But its massive reach for brand awareness makes it an attractive media channel for some advertisers, agency executives say.
“It’s all about what channels have worked in the past and how to leverage those that present opportunities to improve performance,” said Adam Bavaro, integration strategy leader at Gale Business Agency. Ta.
An unusual response to economic headwinds would be to reinvest in direct response strategies that move people closer to buying. But regardless of economic conditions, direct response is just as important as brand awareness, according to Bavaro. Jennifer Cole, chief media officer at VMLY&R advertising agency, added that this is a lesson learned through the coronavirus.
“There was a lot of research that we accomplished before COVID-19,” Cole said. “Due to the impact of the new coronavirus infection, customers [advertising] It was no surprise that I was completely turned off, but it took me even longer to recover. ”
Both Opendoor and Realtor.com see linear TV as important investments to keep, so people will remember them when the economy recovers.
Realtor.com also placed new digital ads in News Corp. and its affiliates, including The Wall Street Journal, Market Watch and the New York Post. Opendoor has also expanded his partnership with Zillow, allowing home sellers on Zillow to request offers for sale on their homes from Opendoor.