When Coldwell Banker‘s senior vice president of marketing David Marine was growing up, his father was in the army and the family moved four times to Arizona, Ohio, then within New Jersey twice. Marine — now a father of four boys — remembers the challenge of moving schools when he was heading into his freshman year.
“When I moved in high school, my parents were building a new construction home and one of the biggest selling points was there would be a much bigger driveway and the way it was situated, it was a perfect half court. So one of the first things, even before the tiling was done, was a basketball hoop in the driveway,” Marine told Inman.
The latest Coldwell Banker campaign launched this week shows a young boy at the family’s new home sulking on his phone and what the introduction of a basketball hoop — at the suggestion of a real estate agent — does to introduce him to other kids in the neighborhood.
The basketball hoop is one of the few things you physically attach to your house, said Marine. And they are everywhere. You drive down any neighborhood street from Indiana to downtown L.A., you will see basketball hoops all over, he said.
Now, Coldwell Banker’s “Hoops” ad is the latest commercial telling stories about what makes a house a home, following the franchisor’s “Somebody to Love” campaign last year, which was the highest real estate ad ever by Ace Metrix, said the company in a press statement.
“The idea of story telling and what connects with people, I do think is something our brand has done very well in comparison to the rest of the industry,” Marine told Inman.
Based in New Jersey, Marine admitted he is thinking of moving house with his wife and sons, who range from ages 4 to 13, because he wants a flat driveway for basketball games and to give the kids more space to play. “It seems silly that a basketball hoop is a decision maker for my family (when deciding to move) but it actually is,” he said.
The campaign has been timed to run during March Madness and was chosen partly because of the NBA’s surging ratings, which are up nearly 30 percent over last year, Coldwell Banker said in the announcement.
