Inman

Realtor.com ad campaign suggests homebuyers will be sorry if they use another app

Screen shot of realtor.com's new TV spot "Doghouse Architects."

Realtor.com continues to drive home the importance of accurate and fresh listings data in a new national consumer marketing campaign, “Accuracy Matters,” released today.

Evolving the theme realtor.com has emphasized in its “Find It First” ads, the “Accuracy Matters” campaign includes two new whimsical 30-second TV spots that emphasize the portal’s claims to superior data accuracy.


“Doghouse Architects,” one of two new realtor.com TV spots released today as part of its new “Accuracy Matters” marketing campaign.

Thanks to its relationship with the National Association of Realtors, realtor.com receives listings directly from more than 800 multiple listing services across the U.S. In some markets, competitors like Zillow and Trulia get listings from a variety of sources.

Although ads don’t specifically mention the source of realtor.com listings, they are designed to drive home to consumers that using other sites that don’t get direct MLS feeds can lead them down frustrating dead-end roads.

In one ad, “Doghouse Architects,” a couple drives up to a home just as a “sold” rider is being placed on the “for sale” sign in the yard. In another ad, “Mom,” a family that relies on a rival search app knocks on the door of a home that’s not actually for sale.

Mom” and “Doghouse Architects” are set to air nationally through 2014 as part of the Accuracy Matters campaign, which will also features digital ads, contests and social media ads featuring the hashtag #AccuracyMatters.

“The accuracy of realtor.com is based on its unique, direct relationships with more than 800 multiple listing services that provide consumers with 98 percent of all for-sale properties listed in the U.S.,” realtor.com operator Move Inc. said in announcing the new campaign. “The powerful combination of comprehensive information persistently updated every 15 minutes ensures that consumers using realtor.com can make smart homebuying and selling decisions.”

Move Inc. announced in February that it was launching its first-ever national TV marketing campaign with new TV and digital spots based on the Find It First campaign.

Thanks to the success of those ads in boosting traffic to the site during the first quarter, Move is accelerating its marketing spend on realtor.com in the second quarter, Move CEO Steve Berkowitz told investors on the firm’s first-quarter earnings call.

Phase two of the Accuracy Matters campaign will begin in the third quarter when NAR rolls out its end of a joint-marketing campaign the two groups announced in April to promote realtor.com.

Zillow and Trulia are going after consumers with massive consumer marketing campaigns of their own this year, which will include national TV spots. Zillow has budgeted $65 million and Trulia $45 million.

Though Move declined to reveal how much it’s planning on spending in its 2014 consumer marketing campaign, Mitch Bartlett, an analyst with Craig-Hallum Capital Group, who covers Move, estimates that its budget sits at around $25 million — a number Berkowitz said he would not confirm or deny.