• Bloodlust, rivalry, greed ... and real estate

    Killsign_1"Kill House" is a dark-humor horror flick that features a serial killer who targets real estate agents. "As news of a brutally murdered San Francisco Realtor throws the Los Angeles real estate community into a tailspin, fear and panic spread as more and more agents turn up dead," according to a promotional Web site for the film.

    "Who's behind these crazed serial killings? The prime suspect is an ex-con hired by one of the property owners. But after he's caught, the killings don't stop -- they only get worse." At the center of the plot is Conner Realty, where "Realtors compete viciously for every listing," according to the film description. "Leading the pack is Marta Bauer, a chain-smoking narcissist; yipping at her heels is Marc Harmon, a whiner with a very big appetite. New to the company is frumpy single mom and compulsive shopper Sunny Lynch. They all vie for the Van Doren property, owned by two self-absorbed parents, Steve and Belinda."

    The film is described as "heinous and hilarious." It is "a modern day tale of bloodlust, rivalry and greed -- all masquerading as the American Dream." (It is not likely endorsed by the National Association of Realtors, in case you were wondering.) A sneak preview screening for the film will be held at the Egyptian Theater, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood, Calif., at 7:30 p.m. March 7 (shout out to LAist.com for spotting this).

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  • Listen to the rabbit

    Discount real estate firms have always turned to off-beat advertising schemes, as they are rarely capitalized to compete with large firms. Here, a San Francisco broker combines YouTube distribution with the Real Estate Rabbit to make its case.

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  • Super Bowl Ad Reprise Reprise

    Super Bowl Ad Reprise Reprise Media, a firm focused on search-engine and interactive advertising, has scored Super Bowl advertisers in its latest "Search Marketing Scorecard." While advertisers during this big football game can spend more than $2 million for a 30-second spot (and as much as $2.6 million), some companies did not maximize the opportunity to divert the Super Bowl audience to their online marketing, according to the report. (The image of battling monsters here is from the Garmin Super Bowl ad.) Several ad campaigns were a "fumble," such as those by Prudential, Ford F-450, Doritos, T-Mobile, Toshiba, Izod, Snapple, Frito Lays, and PNC Bank, according to the report: "Virtually invisible online, these companies completely ignored the interest generated by their commercials online." Meanwhile, Reprise Media listed ad campaigns with a "loss of yards" that "had online presence ... (but) missed the opportunity to integrate it through search," those with "first and goal" that had an "integrated approach ... but stopped just short of the goal," and those that scored a touchdown by connecting the television ads with search, "landing these advertisers in the end zone." Among the ad campaign winners, according to Reprise Media, were SalesGenie.com, Snickers, GoDaddy.com, King Pharmaceuticals, Blockbuster, CareerBuilder.com, Flomax and Pizza Hut. About 58 percent of Super Bowl advertisers bought placement in paid search against their brand name, up 16 percent compared to 2006, while three-quarters of companies "didn't integrate any recognizable elements from their TV commercials into their search ads," Reprise Media reported, and most of the Super Bowl ads included a Web address while about 90 percent lacked a specific call to action asking users to go there. About 31 percent of advertisers' Web site landing pages were integrated with the Super Bowl ads, according to the report, while 45 percent of landing pages included "a clear call-to-action on page" and 47 percent provided an online copy of the television ad. About 45 percent of the landing pages provided value-added content such as deleted scenes, podcasts and desktop patterns, and 3 percent of the landing pages were "optimized for different visitor segments." Blog site RandomCulture.com also offers a dissection of the latest batch of Super Bowl ads. Based on the Reprise analysis, can you think of any real estate-related campaigns that do a good job of integrating television advertising with Web advertising and Web site content? –Glenn Roberts Jr., Inman News

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