The timing may of course be entirely coincidental, but, just a week before the scheduled launch of a rival portal, Rightmove has decided to reveal its new advertising campaign.
Rightmove says:
‘The Renter’ is part of a new multi-channel campaign that prompts the nation to explore what a new life could look like via your Rightmove property listings. Our new tv advert brings this idea to life through the eyes of a renter and celebrates the freedom our hero has to find ‘what’s right for right now’.
“Resonating well with renters and first-time buyers, our new advert also scored highly amongst the wider home-moving population, with 79% of homeowners saying the advert shows Rightmove understands the importance of finding the right home, 77% also told us Rightmove is the first place they’d look when moving home.
“The TV ad will appear in prime slots on Channel 4, All4 and ITVhub, as well as on key online video channels. This is supported by a large-scale national outdoor campaign which you may have already seen in places from Aberdeen to Plymouth.”
EYE asked industry heavyweight Ed Mead what he thought of the ad. He told us:
“Rentals has always moved too fast for Rightmove to be overly relevant. Given the challenges they’re facing is this an admission of having peaked on the sales side?”
Another industry heavyweight, Simon Whale, of Kerfuffle said:
“With around 20% of households being part of the private rented sector it is obviously important that lettings businesses and Rightmove pay attention to how they can help this demographic for many reasons. For me, the new advert is a positive way for Rightmove to support its letting agent clients in appealing to both tenants and landlords”
View the advertisement and leave a comment to let us know what you think of it.
Comments (12)
Not much to see
I’m not sure the corona-virus shaped cloud was a great idea, but I’m very happy to see Graham make a brief cameo.
And I think some people have missed part of the reason that companies like Rightmove advertise on traditional mediums. It’s not just to attract consumers, but is to also demonstrate to their customers (agents) and shareholders that they’re actively advertising. ie, an agent sat at home sees the advert and thinks “I’m with Rightmove and it’s good to see they’re advertising. I’ll stick with them”.
I personally think this campaign is aimed more at keeping agents on side than it is to attract more website users.
an agent sat at home sees the advert and thinks “I’m with Rightmove and it’s good to see they’re advertising. I’ll stick with them”.
this was said tongue in cheek wasn’t it…either way it was a funny line
Lettings is Rightmove’s Achilles heel, it is where they are most vulnerable to challenge. I’m not sure where 20% comes from but the average tenancy of 22 months means 4.5% of the lettings stock is available at any one time. From a volume point of view 1/3 of listings are sales listing, 2/3rd at any on time is lets. I have never come across or heard of a landlord insisting their agent lists on the portals; the FOMO of sales doesn’t exist in Lettings
Because of the fluidity of letting [couples can get loved up on a Saturday night and spend Sunday looking for rentals] lettings listing create a volume problem for agents that isn’t going to be helped by more applicants demanding viewings on properties they’ll never rent
I’m fairly certain that most letting agents can let all their stock 30 times over without portals introducing even more demand, so rather than selling to applicants it might be a better strategy to think about controlling demand and reducing pressure on letting agents.
Radical idea perhaps, think about the customer not the consumer.
Robert
Its the first paragraph of Page 2 of this. Its the English Housing Survey (rather than the Uk) – but this is where the “around 20% of households” came from.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/945013/2019-20_EHS_Headline_Report.pdf
Cheers
Simon
thanks for the clarification Simon. The UK figure is about 15.5% hence the query
What’s 4.5% between friends, its not even twelvety percent …..
Its only £2.33b to landlords and £250m to agency but who’s counting
It amazes me that companies, who have all the data in the world on their customers, still find the need to use television. Fast forward on the remote for most people. Still, money-down-the-drain leaves a warm feeling where RM is concerned.
Planned to coincide with the launch of Boomin next week.
Looking forward to see how this pans out. Let battle commence
A fantasy version of reality a la Harry Potter, it’s annoying.
Wouldn’t put Rightmove out if they were on fire, pass the bellows.
I didn’t think it possible to have a TV ad worse than OTM’s……wrong again!