Domain highlights horrors of Saturday home buyer battles

Great insight Great idea. Terrible execution could have been really really good

I like it

So what are the “unique” set of tools ? The ipad app ? It obviously didnt work beacuse the nerdy compettion found it as well.

Insight is good, Domain just isn’t the vehicle that addresses the problem……….this is a better ad for a buyers agent as opposed to a freely available online classifieds site in my opinion.

Problem is that with the Domain tools freely available for all, the “winged bats from hell” have access to these tools and more (given all the money and resources at their disposal). So how exactly does Domain help me beat them in the race for the perfect property?

And what’s more, the agents and vendors who place ads to sell their homes on Domain want every man and his dog competing for their property so they get the best price, so what does this ad say to them – “we’ll keep your property out of the reach of wealthy boat shoe-wearing people”?

Am I over-analysing this or don’t advertising propositions have to be unique and defensible anymore, or even related to the benefits of the product or service? Maybe I missed that memo.

I think the point is that the winged bats didn’t go onto Domain – probably thought they knew it all.

But as a proposition I think it is unique and defensible. With their tools you are better armed. Without them you are not. It helps you to win.

Thats my take on it anyway.

So the insight is the property market is tough and auctions are full of tossers. Ok not bad. How is the execution then sorting this problem out into something that makes sense ? Let alone connecting it to Domain. And ‘dominate’ ?!?! Terrible strapline. Sounds like testosterone fuelled super arrogance and complete over promise.

Yeah, you’re over analysing.

Property-hunter sees ad. Ad tells them that Domain can help them beat other buyers to get the property they really want. Property-hunter checks out Domain.

That’d be the plan I’d say.

Hmmmm…….

So the consumer is Pavlov’s dog in your parallel universe of advertising.

I like it. I just wish they would make some more ground in QLD. Its a monopoly up here.

Notwithstanding Tim weighing in with an umpire’s view, I’d rather see Domain promote something I can believe – such as the sheer number of listings on Domain along with these “tools” they have means i’ll have all the properties that meet my needs at my fingertips and I won’t miss out on finding the perfect one.

Tougher job for Domain to convince me that they can help me beat another (wealthier) couple in an auction or negotiation – i just don’t think Domain has the creds to play there.

sorry but Batman is right. the viewer is left asking ‘what advantage did the snobs have – they could use Domain as well and could actually be in the same position as the pleb couple

i really have been trying not to criticise ads but this is a strategic failure as well as being cheesy. The ad doesn’t work because Domain is freely available on the web. With everyone using domain or its competitors to search for homes, even the most stupid of viewers will no doubt be stumped as to the advantage supposedly enjoyed by the pleb couple

why didnt they just say what Domain does better than its competitors?

Batman – yes you are analysing.

My wife and I bought a small house last year.

We spent a year developing a spreadsheet of moving average costs per square metre of land in a number of candidate suburbs. This information made us feel confident as to what properties were worth prior to auctions.

I would have gone to any website that provides this information. Nobody does. I can’t work out why not?

@version, can you share this spreadsheet with me?

Awful. Just like Fairfax’s $400million loss this year.

to version:

The real estate market is geared towards advantaging the agents.

The whole dynamic is designed to keep buyers in the dark, and give agents a competitive advantage, due to their ready access to data. Data that is unavailable to buyers.

If buyers could easily find out exactly what property should sell for, give or take a few percent, then the agent’s intelligence-monopoly would be gone. And that would be bad for business.

Think for a second about where realestate.com.au, and domain.com.au gets their revenue from:

(Real estate agents)

And there’s your answer as to why none of these sites have the kind of data that you created for yourself. Their real clients (the selling agents) wouldn’t stand for it.

So… given the fact that domain.com.au can’t REALLY give the buyer any meaningful assistance, then I say this campaign does a decent job of at least making you feel as if it might.

Thought the ad was great – liked the wing bats being lampooned

Well done…

First real estate web site ad I have paid attention to

Hmmm…@16 interpreted:

“In order to maintain our advertising revenue from a bunch of people who skew the market towards themselves, we won’t actually provide any meaningful information or assistance to actual buyers via our classifieds site.

But we’ll go ahead and make an ad that implies we do.”

The result – a distracting ad with an interesting take on the real estate market that does nothing meaningful for the brand or consumers. Fluff for it’s own sake.

@robin,

Problem is, domain is the same as realestate.com.au, in that it’s just an online classified ad site.

Except that realestate.com.au is bigger, and so has more properties. So that’s where you’d always go to first.

But their business model dictates they can’t offer any substantive value to buyers (only to sellers). So they can’t create a meaningful point of difference to realeaste.com.

So, to be honest, they either try to make entertaining campaigns with little to no substance and hope to ‘like’ their way into relevance, or they completely change their business model to one that rewards the buyer more than realestate.com does.

Which, in turn will disenfranchise the people who are actually paying their bills.

What would you do?

@Hmmmm…

I get the problem of having a largely undifferentiated offering to the other big player in the market. From a comms point of view I’d aim to look like I do the job at hand for property buyers better than the competitor, whether they are bigger or not (the punter doesn’t know who is bigger, and with the weight of Fairfax media properties to throw at it they can easily look bigger via perceived media spend).

With the new tools they have there’s a point of difference or an advertising angle at this moment in time – we’ll bring your dream home to you on a platter, to your fingertips or similar. i’m talking proposition here, not creative idea. Sure, still have fun with it, which is the best way to cut through with a commoditised product or service.

All I’m saying is don’t claim something fundamentally wrong that doesn’t stand up to basic scrutiny, such as “we can help you beat another buyer to a property you want”.

Funnily enough Domain did a great job of this when targeting sellers – the guy runs into the invisible house and it says “if your property is not on Domain it’s invisible”. Very memorable and meaningful ad.

What’s the equivalent ad targeting property buyers? All I know is it isn’t the one they made.

@hmmmmmmm

i think you’re mis-analysing. It really goes something like this:

Property-hunter sees ad. Ad tells them that Domain can help them beat other buyers to get the property they really want. Property-hunter things other buyers can use Domain as well. They conclude that Domain offers no competitive advantage over other sites. Maybe they check Domain after they’ve checked realestate.com.au.

Agency has made mistake of assuming consumer is idiot.

That’d be the plan I’d say.

I think a lot of people are missing the point.

Is it just me or is everyone jumping to ‘they conclude…” kind of observations too quickly?

The ad says that Domain will arm property buyers with information. Use it and you have an advantage. Dont use it and someone has the advantage over you.

So it’s simple right – you have to use it or someone has the advantage over you.

So they don’t conclude Domain offers them no competitive advantage – they conclude that they better check it or someone else will win.

That’d be the real plan I’d say.

A lovely little piece of comedy drama (yes we all hate boat shoes!) that’s fun and watchable….but where’s the ending? It just peters out at the end.

@AJ maybe the spot could have ended with the low-end punters driving a stake through the hearts of the winged bats from hell to show they came out on top….perhaps using the for sale sign nabbed from the front yard to reinforce the category

Mother, Toyota, Bundy and now Domain. This guy’s good – sign him up for the next Underbelly!