From Advertising Age, By Marissa Miley
Disappearing are the bold-colored suit jackets, poufy hairdos and stilted smiles that, for decades, have been plastered across newspaper pages pushing real estate to potential homebuyers. In their stead: informal blogs, online video tours and sophisticated consumer targeting.
THE END OF LISTINGS? Corcoran still places classified ads in The New York Times and on some newspaper and magazine sites, but that may drop off over time.
The recession and a cratered housing market have curtailed real-estate advertising overall, and many companies have cut back significantly on newspapers. Realogy Corp., parent company of Century 21, Coldwell Banker, Sotheby’s International, and Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, among others, spent 31.7% less on measured media in 2008, according to TNS Media Intelligence, down to $129.3 million from $189.4 million in 2007. And more than half of the decrease, $31.8 million, came out of newspapers. At the same time, Realogy upped its internet spending 29% to $8.6 million. The internet ad dollars pale in comparison largely because the internet is less expensive, but the trend toward online is unmistakable.
Christina Lowris, exec VP of marketing and advertising at the Corcoran Group, a real-estate firm with properties in New York City, the Hamptons, and South Florida, said Corcoran spends “a lot less” on print classifieds than it used to, and views that change as permanent.
