Century 21 Real Estate LLC is hoping that its latest “real-time” marketing video featuring amateur-looking footage of the Easter Bunny laying eggs will go viral.
The Realogy-owned brand runs massive marketing campaigns that include TV ads during huge events like the Olympic Games and the Super Bowl, but last fall it began producing videos, like the Easter Bunny one, around holidays and news events that it hopes would get the brand out to the masses in a different way.
Century 21’s latest real-time marketing video features the Easter Bunny.
“These videos help us capitalize on items in discussion in the news and pop culture,” Century 21 Chief Marketing Officer Bev Thorne told Inman News. “It brings us into the conversation.”
The 18-second Easter video has a realistic vibe — a shaky hand-held camera pans across the ground as its excited user dashes across a yard to get a close-up of the elusive bunny– but those elements are intentional. It was professionally produced by one of Century 21’s ad agencies, Thorne said.
So far the firm has released more than a dozen videos — each with a unique design and feel — around holidays and events including Halloween, Twitter’s initial public offering, Amazon’s drone-delivery plans, Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day and the restart of the popular HBO show “Game of Thrones.”
The frequent, timely videos also give Century 21 agents content they can share on blogs and social media that reinforces the brand, said Matt Gentile, director of social media at Century 21.
The YouTube ads have seen mixed results. The most successful, by far, has been the psychedelic cartoon video “Tryptophan Slow Jam” Century 21 released around Thanksgiving. It has more than 100,000 views on YouTube.
The videos are just one part of a diverse Century 21 marketing strategy. Other components this year included the branding of YouTube’s home page for one day with a banner ad full of puppy GIFs that linked to Century 21’s website.
