Fri 31 Oct 2008
Quality Street
It's time to steer clear of incentives - or so the marketers at Stewart Milne Homes believe. Cheryl Markosky meets the housebuilder which is content on focussing on quality.Let's get back to basics.
So said British Prime Minister John Major back in 1993 in a rather ill fated attempt to re-launch his government. Announced at the Conservative Party Conference that year, the new initiative was meant to focus on law and order, education and public decency (particularly, the issue of single mothers) after the fiasco of Black Wednesday.
You could argue that with another financial debacle making our present Prime Minister Gordon Brown somewhat miserable - namely the credit crunch - a back to basics campaign showing all that is supposedly good and right in a simplified world could soon be upon us.
You might wince at the thought of the political version, but maybe a back to basics approach when it comes to marketing property might not be such a bad idea right now. In the competitive battle to lure reluctant buyers nervous of the property market (many are uneasy about what direction we are going in, are unable to get a mortgage, or are finding it nigh on impossible to borrow to climb further up the property ladder) we are seeing an increasing number of 'fire sale' adverts to convince purchasers to buy this new build home over that one.
It must be difficult, of course, trying to drag in the punters, when most of them are wary of house values and whether the quarter-of-a-million pound home you buy today will be worth the price of a cup of cappuccino in five years time.
But is the answer tawdry American-style adverts that smack of desperation? 'Get free carpets!' 'No Stamp Duty'. 'We cover half your deposit.' And my favourite: 'Buy a home today and we will landscape the garden.' As this typically means planting a bit of lawn and sticking in a twig that could become a tree in about a decade, maybe the developer isn't doing you any big favours here. I would find it hard to fall down on my knees in gratitude and thank them for green-fingered efforts that would make Monty Don proud.
That is why this month's marketing campaign is a brave operation, as it bucks the distressed 'hard sell' trend. Stewart Milne Homes, founded in Aberdeen in 1975 and one of the UK's largest privately owned house builders, realised it was time to do something distinct from its competitors and come up with some original objectives.
Carolanne Dielman, group marketing and communications director of Stewart Milne Homes, decided the company had to move away from headline financial offers. "Homes are hardly on the page anymore because they have been taken over by money-related offers," she says. "We wanted to be different and remind people they are buying a home - and not just a financial deal."
Dielman worried that if you put your hand over the logo in most of the ads, you would not be able to tell who was selling the product. It could be an insurance company, financial advisor or a housebuilder. All appear to be offering financial help rather than selling you a place to live.In order to break away from the pack, Dielman briefed agency The Big Picture, based in Aberdeen and Glasgow to focus on the brand itself, the quality of the product and its long-lasting value.
Derek Stewart from The Big Picture went right back to basics (wouldn't those Tory advisors be proud?) and answered the question: What is the marker of quality? "It comes down to the detail," he says, "which is why we came up with a masterpiece campaign where you can get up close and examine a home's worth."
Refreshingly, the Big Picture's 'the best places to live' concept is straightforward, but effective. Simple headlines represent a Stewart Milne home as 'the masterpiece' and the DNA of the house is 'the detail.' Close-up shots from one of Stewart Milne's properties in Aberdeen show the detail: a stylish doorknob, contemporary window latch, a striking handle on a kitchen unit and smart chrome towel rail.
"Rather than one big computer generated image with a 'get money off now' tag, we say Stewart Milne is building the best places to live and here is the evidence. We are keeping it clean and clear," explains Stewart.
In a very tight market where house builders really do have to sell, Stewart believes that showing why you should buy a luxury product from Stewart Milne is best conveyed through a 'less is more' approach. "There are cleaner lines, less clutter and quite sophisticated art direction in the new campaign. We have moved from the corporate blues and oranges of the company to richer hues."
Someone sagely pointed out that it all comes down to house developers needing to decide whether they are selling homes or incentives. Consumers are savvy these days and will work out easily that despairing housebuilders are trying to hook them in with free offers, which tends to cheapen the brand, Dielman points out.
"If you are always offering discounts, the consumer will always expect them. So, where do you go from there, especially when the market turns?" she asks.
"You mustn't destroy the market going forward. As the most expensive purchase most people will ever make, we need to give them more credit than we currently do. We have to treat them like they are intelligent human beings and remember that a good number of purchasers have already carried out their research and know what they are looking for," adds Dielman.To point people in the right direction, media buyer Gary Wise from Feather Brooksbank drove an integrated campaign using various media, including press, radio, online, directing marketing and outdoor.
"We wanted to make sure Stewart Milne stood out from the crowd, so made sure this was a multi-media promotion," he says. "Different media played different roles: outdoor was inspirational showing you which homes were on offer, while direct marketing provided more information and was more longterm."
To make sure the housebuilder stood out even more, press adverts were not the standard ten by four size. "Instead we opted for strips on the bottom of pages, which really stood out," Wise explains. "It gives the idea that you own the page and also relates to a sense of ownership of Stewart Milne Homes."
Online advertising encouraged people to go to the Stewart Milne Group website and be more familiar with the overall brand, while radio delivered a sense of urgency and high frequency.
"All the creative media fit together with the taglines, wrapping it all up eventually," adds Wise.
The mixed use of media also contributed to The Big Picture's aim of appealing to all of Stewart Milne's buyers. Because the housebuilder does not specialise in any one age group like a retirement developer, for instance, a blend of outlets helps attract a wider group.
Stewart Milne sells apartments in some of its developments to young professionals, couples, families starting out and also downsizers, according to Stewart. "Therefore, we could not afford to lose a lucrative sector. Gone are the days there is a fairly standard pattern in lives and homes. Now everything is more flexible and we deal with a bigger mix of potential purchasers."
One of the problems of running a campaign focusing on detail is you have to make sure you get the detail right. John Major's back to basics' programme (widely interpreted as a moral campaign) went seriously off the rails when Tory sleaze was revealed. Remember David Mellor's affair with bit-part actress Antonia de Sancha? And how about Tim Yeo's extramarital affair that produced a love child? Ironically, several years after Major's term ended, we all discovered Major himself had an extramarital affair with his colleague Edwina Currie.
So, how will Stewart Milne ensure the detail of its masterpieces remains up to scratch?
"We are going back to focus on what people are looking to buy - a home," says Dielman. "Instead of concentrating on the financial deal before we finish the product, the product comes first.
"People don't buy a house because of the free carpets or £10,000 cashback. In the main, they buy a home that fits their criteria - there are enough bedrooms, an eat-in kitchen and room for the dog in the backyard. And we want our homes to not only fit their criteria, but also be the best on offer."
Posted by Show House
in Campaign of the Month, Carolanne Dielman, Derek Stewart, Gary Wise, Gordon Brown, Stewart Milne Homes on Fri 31 Oct 2008
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