“[Through Google TV Ads] we've optimized our television campaigns to be more effective in reaching our target than before. Traffic to our website has increased exponentially, and our franchises are seeing positive impact on their businesses” - Marissa Leon, Realty Executives International

Home Team Advantage

Realty Executives International uses Google TV Ads to do more with less.

As an international real estate franchisor, Arizona based Realty Executives International has always strived to build brand awareness at scale. The company evolved from a local real estate firm to an international franchisor, now providing corporate support and marketing for real estate franchises in nearly 800 locations. Providing such a scale of support in tough economic times has challenged the team to get more from its marketing budget.

“The scope of our business has grown quickly, and we want to fuel that growth,” says Todd Sumney, Realty Executives International’s director of marketing. “Widespread consumer awareness makes a vital difference in the success of each local office. Our goal is to create that awareness, but do it in a way that makes the most of our marketing budgets.”

Waiting game

To cultivate brand awareness and help realtors reach their target audiences, Realty Executives International decided to invest in television advertising. After running a few traditional TV campaigns, it was apparent that budgets were restricting reach and frequency of ads. “We found we were limited in what we could do with our budget,” recalls Todd. “We were running on four cable networks but because of delayed or inaccessible data, we just weren’t sure if we were connecting with our target audience: women between ages 35 and 50.”

New discovery

Realty Executives International had been working with Greg Markel, president of Infuse Creative, to increase website traffic and attract new brokers and customers through search marketing. The company used Google AdWords™ as a cornerstone of its advertising strategy, and Greg worked to optimize the AdWords campaigns to increase visibility and web traffic.

When Greg learned about Google TV Ads™, he saw an opportunity to offer a unique service to his client, while helping them get more out of their TV advertising efforts. “We are constantly looking for what we can do differently for our clients,” says Greg. “For an agency with years of experience buying media, Google TV Ads not only seemed accessible and easy-to-use, but we saw it as a great way to broaden our service offerings and get a much lower cost per thousand (CPM).”

Greg ran the idea by Todd and Marissa Leon, communications and public relations manager for Realty Executives International. Buying television ads through the familiar AdWords interface while cutting out calling, faxing, rate cards, and busy work sounded appealing. “We had seen both the benefits and challenges of traditional TV media buying, so we were open to changing our approach,” says Todd.

Expanding reach

“Planning and launching campaigns was extremely intuitive through Google TV Ads. The interface is similar to AdWords,” says Greg. Despite being new to television, Greg and his team were able to plan and execute campaigns with the click of a mouse. “The choice went far beyond the four networks they had previously been advertising on.”

“We’ve now expanded our buy across more than 40 different cable networks which allows us to reach a much larger audience. We’ve also multiplied ad reach and frequency without increasing budgets,” adds Todd. “We can even target specific TV shows versus the broad rotators we were buying before. This allows us to focus budget on content that captures our exact audience.”

The level of control and targeting options offered by the Google TV Ads platform also allowed Realty Executives International to take advantage of programming trends. “When Lifetime launched Army Wives, it turned out to be the number-one rated show on cable, and matched the exact demographic we wanted to reach,” Greg recalls. “Using Google TV Ads, we were able to quick-time the market and get in on the show’s launch-week success. We simply couldn’t do that before.”

In addition to extended reach, Realty Executives International increased ad frequency through the Google TV Ads system which helped increase brand building efforts. “Google TV Ads’ auction based pricing brought huge efficiencies for us. We were able to air five to ten times as many commercials, with the same budget as before,” says Todd.

Fine tuning

“From the start, we saw positive results with Google TV Ads,” Marissa recalls. “We were running commercials on more shows and cable networks, and most importantly, reaching the right viewers.” The team had access to campaign reports in the Google TV Ads interface within 24 hours of airing, which included ad impressions and accurate demographic data from millions of set-top-boxes. Using this information, they could see whether each ad was getting enough exposure and reaching the right audience.

“As a result, we’ve optimized our television campaigns to be more effective in reaching our target than before. Traffic to our website has increased exponentially, and our franchises are seeing positive impact on their businesses,” Marissa reports. “Our brokers and sales executives from all over the country tell us that people approach them on the streets to say they’ve seen our television ad. We’re able to deliver customers and generate greater brand awareness.”

More with less

In challenging economic times, Realty Executives International has used Google TV Ads to increase its return on its TV advertising investment, and in turn support its goal of building brand awareness through a scalable, efficient approach. “We’re advertising in a way that’s highly accountable, highly measurable, and radically cost-effective,” says Greg. Marissa adds: “[with Google TV Ads] you’re able to do more, and reach so many more people for the same or less dollars. So why would you not want to be more effective with how you’re spending your money right now?”