Despite global media giant News Corp.’s acquisition of realtor.com operator Move Inc. in November, which lost NAR a seat on Move’s board and an ownership stake in the company, the trade association remains committed to promoting the realtor.com brand in a big way.
NAR aired a 33-second TV ad during the Grammy Awards on Sunday on CBS promoting both Realtors and its official consumer website, realtor.com.
NAR began deeply integrating realtor.com into its national consumer marketing with the launch of its $35 million “Real People” campaign last July, which also marked the first time the trade association had coordinated its consumer messaging so tightly with realtor.com and Move.
The new ad is 2015’s first whiff of the real estate consumer marketing battle that soared to stratospheric heights last year when Zillow, Trulia and Move spent an estimated $145 million combined on national marketing campaigns.
Move spent an estimated $25 million on its realtor.com national marketing campaign last year, which was aided by an additional $25 million in estimated exposure thanks to NAR’s “Real People” campaign, which ties realtor.com and the Realtor brand together.
Execs at News Corp. have said they plan to tout realtor.com to the masses with a consumer marketing campaign after polishing up realtor.com’s messaging and products for prime-time viewing. Apparently, they’ll also continue to get a boost from NAR’s campaign.
Unlike last year, when Zillow, Trulia and realtor.com all spent wildly for consumer exposure, 2015 will likely be a two-horse race up the consumer marketing mountain (with NAR adding a boost to realtor.com). Zillow is expected to complete its acquisition of Trulia any day now.
Zillow and Trulia, which spent approximately $75 million and $45 million, respectively, on their consumer campaigns in 2014, will likely reveal their consumer marketing budgets for 2015 later this month when they discuss their 2014 earnings.
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