Thursday, April 27, 2017

Home is Where the Heart is

Seattle-based home buying company, Zillow recently launched a campaign that tugs at the heartstrings of even those with the iciest of cold hearts. Each of the five video advertisements features different types of families/people searching for a new home. Zillow knows that purchasing a new home is both an emotional and often stressful experience, and they want to show their market that they care. The various stages of life, most often known as the "slice of life" technique has been proven effective in helping aid company relations with their target audiences. In the screen grab featured from YouTube, this particular ad features a young boy and his father who are forced to move after the loss of their matriarch. According to CEO Jeremy Wacksman, stated in their accompanying press release, "We hear so many incredible personal stories about the different paths people take to homeownership. We were inspired to bring the modern home shopping story to life with this campaign".

In addition to tugging at heartstrings of viewers, the company took an important stab at acknowledging the buying patterns of millennials, who have been often criticized as renters and not homeowners. The segment entitled "Just Me" features a young woman who is searching for a new apartment, but is advised by a coworker to purchase instead to gain long-term investments, even though it is only her living in the home. This particular commercial tapped into an audience that Zillow's principle competition has not taken advantage of thus far.

2 comments:

  1. I saw this second commercial for the first time just last night and instantly fell in love with it! It taps into territory that Realtor.com hasn't even come close to. It shows that Zillow is practical for renters and buyers, but I really love their choice to cast a young, independent, professional, woman rather than a male lead to push investing in oneself. That breaks the mold that women need to rely on a male figure and/or need to be married before buying a house. I also love their choice to cast an older woman to encourage the young professional. We need more women-supporting-women stories in our media. Great post!!

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