Zillow unveiled a new ad this week called “Homecoming” to pull at your ol’ heartstrings, but mostly to show how easy it is to use mobile tools to shop for a new house.
It is the latest in a string of advertisements from the Seattle online real estate company, which is spending more than $100 million this year to bolster its brand in the wake of competition from Move Inc. and new entrants such as Xome.
The national ad spot features a couple in an airport, scrolling through Zillow’s listings on a tablet, then flying to Mexico and continuing their home search while away. I won’t spoil the ad for you, but there’s definitely an emotional twist at the end that turns shopping for a house into shopping for a home.
In fact, that’s the punchline: “You’re not just looking for a house, you’re looking for a place for your life to happen.”
“Homecoming” is the first in a series of national ads, Zillow stated in a release, that will air throughout the summer. It’s the sixth spot overall in the company’s “Find Your Way Home” ad campaign, and it will air in 30-second spots on major networks including ABC, CBS, HGTV and CNN, with 60-second spots appearing online.
Zillow launched “Find Your Way Home” in 2013 with the intent to create a “massive, enduring brand,” and bumped up its ad spending by a whopping 70 percent that year. A few months later, the company reported that the ad campaigns were “working” and increasing the site’s traffic significantly.
In March of this year, following its $2.5 billion acquisition of rival Trulia, Zillow reported about 140 million visitors to its mobile properties and Web site. Zillow reports that nearly two-thirds of its traffic comes through a mobile device, stating that in April more than 600 million homes were viewed via mobile.
Can the new ad spots create a similar boost this summer and help Zillow bolster its position against heated rival Move Inc.?
Zillow is certainly the undisputed leader, especially following its acquisition of Trulia.
Not to be outdone, Move is making its own advertising plays, taking a distinctively humorous approach in a campaign that features Elizabeth Banks of 30 Rock, countering Zillow’s more emotional pull.
It seems these real estate wars are getting more cutthroat than Game of Thrones, especially since we just wrote about a new online real estate player by the name of Xome that launched today.
Anyway, watch the new Zillow ad below. I have to admit, I teared up a little. Enjoy:
