Viral marketing campaign concept
McDonald’s is the subject of an ad concept coming from the Miami Ad School in Berlin in which students have designed a Facebook app called Burger Roulette which offers to help users select the perfect burger corresponding with their mouth size with results shared on Facebook, then mobile voucher integration brings the ad campaign back to the point of sale.
What is genius about this concept is not only the design but the use of multiple media. Where Facebook apps typically fall short is the shine wearing off and use declining, so this concept takes that into account and keeps interest piqued by offering mobile vouchers. Vouchers, of course, bring in more business as users often travel to the retailer with company, thus making a sale they might not otherwise have made.
Realtors, listen up
This campaign concept has several teachable moments for Realtors.
- First, the design is clean, simple and brand appropriate. Often, a broker’s brand is youthful but marketing is outdated or vice versa. Realtors should observe modern graphic design tenets while remaining consistent with their brand message and consistent with the target demographic.
- Secondly, the concept involves Facebook in a meaningful way. The app is fun, theoretically useful, and sharable. Realtors have a challenge in the Facebook marketing world to do more than offer a Facebook Page that has regurgitated market updates. Pitting two interior designs together in a hot or not vote scenario is a fun way real estate can get involved (although it’s been done before). Another option would be interactive local data graphs- get creative and be meaningful.
- Third, the ad campaign is customized to the user. Brokerages are guilty of attempting a one-size-fits-all approach to web marketing which consumers are being groomed to criticize. If a team specializes in new construction, marketing (especially something as specialized as a Facebook app) should reflect that specialty rather than a generalized approach. Consumers are expecting laser focus because that’s what they’re looking for, so a cardiologist would not likely market himself as a “doctor.”
- Fourth, the genius of the campaign is the use of multiple platforms in a seamless way. Real estate is guilty of blatantly attempting to garner as much prospect information as possible. We say guilty because brokers often have “fill out this ridiculously long form and maybe I’ll give you a market report or spam your inbox” forms. This campaign naturally and subtly garners Facebook information (thus a wealth of demographic data from age, sex, ethnicity, marital status, employer, etc) by users having to agree to terms prior to using the app, and obtains users’ phone numbers in order to receive free coupons. With one click on Facebook and a cell phone number, a retailer has a dramatic amount of information with very little effort or commitment from users. Be respectful of users’ time if you want their information and be legitimate with this process.
The lessons that can be learned are many, but simply put, real estate marketing in its current state is fragmented and rarely effective when it comes to multimedia campaigns. Clean design that is modern and consistent with the target demo and brand identity, along with customizable, meaningful destinations that respect a user’s time will go considerably further than boring, outdated forms required for users to obtain useless regurgitated information.
