Zoopla throws down TV advert challenge to Rightmove

News Category: Industry News

Property portal Zoopla is today launching its first national TV advertising campaign, which will include a number of prime-time slots across ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and the Sky digital channels.



The initial campaign will run for five weeks to the end of September and is part of a multi-million pound advertising campaign to run over the coming months.



It is the first time in years that a property portal other than Rightmove and, to a lesser extent, the Daily Mail-owned Digital portals have advertised extensively on prime-time television. Rightmove takes out a  massive high-profile Christmas/New Year advertising campaign, which is normally repeated. FindaProperty has taken Easter-time slots, and Primelocation has also run some TV ads.

Zoopla is upping its ante ultimately not just to challenge Rightmove for first place, but in the shorter term to beat the Digital portals as second-place challengers.

 
The new Zoopla TV campaign will tap into the nation’s obsession with the property market and is designed to increase Zoopla's brand awareness and, says a spokesman, "drive even greater performance for its member estate agents". It is calculated 87% of adults will see the TV ad at least once during the initial five-week period.
 
Zoopla launched in only 2008 and has since gobbled up other portals, including Thinkproperty, which was owned by the Guardian, and Propertyfinder, which had been owned by News International.
 
The TV ads centre on the theme that finding the perfect property is much like finding the perfect partner and reinforce the philosophy that free and easily accessible information helps buyers, renters, sellers and owners make better-informed property decisions.
Zoopla has used leading creative and media agencies on the campaign. VCCP (O2, Comparethemarket, Microsoft, Texaco and Standard Life) were responsible for the creative development and Vizeum (Coca-Cola, BMW, Five and Panasonic) handled the media buying.
 
Alex Chesterman, Zoopla's founder and CEO, said: “Over the past two years, the pace of our growth has been unrivalled in the property portal space and we are now ready to turn Zoopla into a household name targeting property buyers, renters, sellers and landlords so that we can continue to be the most effective marketing partner for all UK estate agents.”
 
To view the advert go to: http://www.zoopla.co.uk/improve-your-chances


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