How Australia’s Top Developers are Changing the Game

In a rapidly evolving property market industry players are embracing new and innovative strategies to gain an edge on the competition.

No more is this evident than in the new development market, where the best minds in marketing are vying for the next wave of buyers.

But cutting through the noise with impactful marketing is not easy.

The Urban Developer interviewed two property developers, who are leaders in the property marketing space. Sekisui House, who have led a successful brand campaign, and Thirdi Group who saw outstanding results from an innovative project campaign.

Sekisui House

Sekisui House is one of Japan’s most respected community developers and home builders; they have built more than two million homes and have rightfully received an array of awards for innovation, quality and sustainability.

As a relatively new developer in Australia, Sekisui House wanted to share their design philosophies and vision for cultivating communities with the Australian market.

“We had run branded advertising campaigns in the past but realised we needed to find a platform that would help us to amplify the Sekisui House brand story on a deeper level," Sekisui House corporate marketing officer Chloe Mahon said.

"We chose to partner with Domain so that we could speak to a National audience through a trusted voice."

What were Sekisui Houses objectives for the brand campaign?

“We wanted to position Sekisui House as a premium residential provider with a distinctly human approach to development. We knew that we could do this by spreading a message that redefines the meaning of ‘community’ for home buyers," says Mahon.

"We believe that all Sekisui House developments are communities and our common goal is to create a place for people to interact, thrive and grow in harmony with natural surroundings."

How did you amplify your brand story?

“We knew that in order to tell our story we needed to leverage a platform that would help us reach an audience with scale. We chose to partner with Domain and ran a total of 12 articles that were amplified throughout Domain’s social media and content discovery platforms. We paired this with a couple of print versions in Domain’s various publications. Through these content pieces we were able to create stories that not only spoke to our core values, but also fit with topics of interest for the audience” says Mahon.

What success did Sekisui House see from this campaign?

Mahon explains that through the brand campaign “we were able to directly relate our corporate philosophies with what we were doing in our developments, which isn’t easily communicated via traditional advertising”.

“The campaign delivered almost 4 million Facebook readers which exceeded our expectations. As a corporate branding exercise, we were excited that we could see reports on engagement and sentiment, and could use the results to improve our understanding of the market” says Mahon.

Thirdi Group

Thirdi Group are a NSW developer with an exceptional track record in successfully delivering large-scale residential projects. Thirdi deliver high-quality homes, targeted to both home buyers and investors.

The objective?

Thirdi Group wanted to create a campaign to make their latest development – Paragon of Pyrmont – stand out from the crowd.

“The development isn’t like anything else on the market, and a traditional campaign, just using digital renders and call to action headings to get people to register their interest would not have worked for a project of this calibre” Thirdi Group director Luke Berry said.

“We had an objective of reaching our sales targets in the initial stages of our marketing campaign, and managed to not only reach those targets, but to also generate close to 2000 leads throughout our campaign with Domain."

What elements did you include in the marketing campaign for Paragon of Pyrmont?

“We wanted to amplify our story to a larger audience and to create a marketing campaign as innovative as the development was and this started with our display suite," says Berry.

"Instead of creating a stock standard display with a sample kitchen, bathroom and sales area, we created a fully licensed pop up bar and café within our display so potential buyers could visit and grab a coffee (or wine) and explore the display suite in comfort."

“Through a fully-integrated marketing campaign, we wanted potential buyers to be able to visualise the lavish life that they could live at Paragon of Pyrmont. To achieve this, we combined content marketing, online amplification, brand partnerships, video and traditional print marketing. My favourite content piece was one themed ‘Would you like an apartment with your piccolo?"

What results did the campaign deliver?

“First and foremost we wanted to cement Thirdi as a premium developer of high-end apartments. Through showcasing the luxurious features of Paragon of Pyrmont in our content pieces, we managed to reach the right audiences and were even featured on channel seven news”.

“Second to this, our goal was to achieve our pre-sales targets. The launch of Paragon of Pyrmont was one of the most successful we have seen - we achieved our pre-sales targets and also generated the record sale price per sq m for Pyrmont”. 

“Paragon of Pyrmont is a very niche development with prices starting at $4 million. Despite the niche audience, Domain connected us with the right audience, with a low cost per lead. Through a fully integrated campaign with Domain we have successfully sold over half of the development” Berry says.

What can developers do to add an edge to their marketing campaign?

To successfully share your brand or project story with the right audience, it is important to have a trusted platform in which you can amplify your story. Domain reaches 5 million property seekers each month* and is a trusted source of news for the home buyer.

Domain works with property developers to create integrated marketing campaigns that connect them with a premium audience.

To enquire about partnering with Domain email ​developers@domain.com.au​ or visit www.domainmedia.com.au

* emmaTM conducted by Ipsos MediaCT, people 14+ for the 12 months ending Nov 2017; Nielsen Digital Ratings (Monthly), People 18+ only.

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