The advert that says so much about where our industry is going

| Rayhan Rafiq Omar

There I was, minding my own business on London’s underground* when this Bairstow Eves advert assaulted my eyes:

 

In case you don’t know, this is the main London brand of estate agency giant Countrywide.

I’d like to analyse this advert, as it says much about where our industry is going:

  1. Bairstow Eves is no longer a high street brand. It’s clear that Countrywide’s management think this hybrid, fixed upfront fee offering is what consumers would prefer. It’s pretty high profile for this to just be an experiment any more.
  2. The mention of online reviews on ‘Feefo’ show that Countrywide offering is a genuine clone of what eMoov pioneered some years ago. Even eMoov has moved on to talk about actual service and technology, rather than just online reviews. And by the way, it hasn’t taken long for the service to drop from 5 stars to 4.2:
  3. Powerpoint – you all know what I’m saying. You aren’t going to remember this advert.

While the likes of HouseSimple, YOPA, Tepilo and Purplebricks have super polished adverts, the largest high street estate agency by branches managed to produce this.

And that is the interesting thing about seeing this advert. It seems like an afterthought.

Coupled with the reviews, could it really be that someone inside Countrywide is resisting the move to ‘go hybrid’ and trying to sabotage the offering?

Why is there no mention of Countrywide being the largest estate agent, or how many homes they sell in London or the UK each year?

It will be interesting to see what advert follows this. Considering the amount of money Countrywide raised in their recent rights issue, you’d expect something more punchy.

Personally, I’d like to see someone do a spoof of the Purplebricks advert. A little something like this:

Vendor’s parent: I see you sold your home with one of those new online agents

Vendor: Yes, we saved so much money by not having to pay any commission.

Vendor’s parent: So how much did you sell for?

Vendor: What do you mean?

Vendor’s parent: Well, next door used [insert reputable agency brand here] and had three buyers bidding. They achieved well over the asking price.

Vendor (going purple and stuttering): We accepted an offer 5% below asking price.

Vendor’s parent: Oh, sorry to hear that. I think next door only paid 1.5% to achieve a better sales price. Looks like paying commission saved them a lot more money.

Narrator’s voice: Home sale regret is what happens when you try to save a little on commissions and lose a lot from the value of your home. Get the best price when you sell your home with [name of reputable agency brand here].

In big letters ‘#noregrets‘ appears on the screen accompanied by a suitable little ditty.

* If you haven’t travelled on the ‘tube’ recently, this song sums up how many of us feel about it. Keeping the theme, once you hear this song, you’ll never be able to forget it. Sheer genius:

http://metro.co.uk/2015/07/09/lets-celebrate-tube-strike-day-with-the-wonderful-london-underground-song-5287276/

 

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18 Comments

  1. revilo
    May 2, 2017 at 07:32

    Laughing!

    Peanuts and monkeys springs to mind!

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    1. Bless You
      May 2, 2017 at 10:44

      Even if this is a ploy to loss line lead into a property to sell the full service….something has to change.
      Its now bigger then us..the govt. will have to step in and decide what is an agent..
      Its all very well vendors nearly selling their houses for free (the way its going)
      Its the purchasers who now need protecting from the DIY sellers…  

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  2. clarky46
    May 2, 2017 at 07:37

    Love that script!  We ought to make the video.

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  3. GeoW10
    May 2, 2017 at 07:51

    The new hybrid offering brings with it the associated cut price structure, meaning to even stand still they need at least 4 times the number of transactions. Surely optimistic to think the market can accomodate the transaction growth needed to accommodate this? Absolutely no doubt they must have factored this in and have a special new product line to take up the financial slack and ready for release.

    Anyone got an idea what it could be?

     

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    1. g4lvo17
      May 2, 2017 at 09:58

      The idea is that they will push the full service after the initial contact and that people won’t abandon them as they have already made a financial contribution. The belief is people will switch across after realising that online only is a pain 

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  4. Blue
    May 2, 2017 at 08:05

    I said it before. . . Turkeys promoting their own brand of turkey gravy.

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  5. cyberduck46
    May 2, 2017 at 08:56

    £995 for London.

     

    Well done! Looks like they’re offering a similar product to PurpleBricks at a lower price. Cleverly allowing to switch to their commission based service if the seller requires more support.

     

    You have to wonder though whether there’s a profit in competing with themselves. I’ve seen that they think there is. Perhaps that’s because there’s a lot of switching to the commission based model.

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  6. Mark Walker
    May 2, 2017 at 09:19

    They have had this sort of thing pretty much plastered all over the windows of their office in our city for weeks now – essentially ‘full service or cut price service – you choose – and if it goes wrong it was your choice’.

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  7. g4lvo17
    May 2, 2017 at 09:41

    The imagery used in the advert is the same as that used in the initial mock ups when this was being discussed over a year ago when I was still there, looks like the same malaise and poor investment in promoting this and thinking they don’t need to try hard to make it work.

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  8. Woodentop
    May 2, 2017 at 09:43

    Is this the tipping point of a trend? Some agents around the UK have been doing this cut throat (their own throats) fee’s for  some time, trying to compete with low overhead budget on-liners which have less than 5% of the market – no big deal, until now. Once a large corporate starts doing this, the ball starts to gather momentum. Someone seems to forget that fee’s are where they are because of overheads, on-liners have little overheads or risks, while the high street has considerably more to cover and risk.  This message isn’t getting through to the public? Once  a large High Street says they can offer it as a DIY for vendors …. the rot starts. Very dangerous and worrying for many smaller companies and sole traders who make up most of the UK Estate Agents.

     

    Seems someone doesn’t know how to sell themselves and going for buying the customer easy option.

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  9. jacksmith45
    May 2, 2017 at 09:43

    Check out the video we made at Easter (link below), uncannily similar to your proposed script. After the success of our Cheesy Christmas Cracker we brought Seany Claus back to life in the form of an Easter Agent.

    https://youtu.be/aeI5yZZCSJI

    We’d be happy to have a stab at your script too! Watch this space. 🙂

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  10. sellingup
    May 2, 2017 at 09:57

    Interesting opinion piece, but do you have any actual data to suggest this ad will be ineffective compared with Purplebricks etc.? Or do you have many years’ pedigree in the advertising industry that would lend credibility to your view that it’s a bad advert?

    The thing you may not understand about advertising/marketing is that some of the most ‘boring’ ads can be most effective, and the flashiest the least.

    I’m not saying you are right or wrong about the ad – I don’t know if this more explanatory text style approach will work for them, and I wouldn’t claim to do so, unless I had audience response data or at least an expert’s eye to rely on.

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  11. Shaw
    May 2, 2017 at 10:22

    #upfrontery – from Andrew Pennells excellent post on Linkedin.

    UPFRONTERY

    up¦front|ery

    [upˈfrʌnt(ə)ri]

    NOUN

    Describes the cheek of an estate agent to charge the full fee up front even if the property is not sold. “the agent had the upfrontery to ask for the full amount before a viewing had even taken place”

    ORIGIN

    Early 2017, believed to have followed the introduction of the word “Commisery”.

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  12. BobSmeaton01
    May 2, 2017 at 11:13

    I read recently  that Countrywide is the largest mortgage broker in the UK so they will be terrified of losing all those leads. There is of course another question there.Is the desire of corporate estate agents to use selling houses as fly paper for selling financial services going to have another dramatic influence on “real estate agents” and the fluidity of the market? I agree with Woodentop.

    On line agents will never provide the same overall level of service as a good High Street Agent as they are saving approx 30% of the costs by not having a high street presence ,no newspaper advertising etc but only charging say 25% or less in fees/commission/whatever. The trouble is they are giving the impression to the public that it can be done and the commissions of “the real estate agent” are extortionate.

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  13. bencade
    May 2, 2017 at 15:37

    Haven’t found myself in the comments section for a while. But something triggered with this article and a comment of, ‘seems someone doesn’t know how to sell themselves’, this is ignorant to the fact that times are changing. I’m perfectly good at selling myself, but there will come a time when you stop getting in the door and you won’t be able to sell yourself.

    I personally think this a smart move, it gives the consumer choice, a reason to invite you invite you in the first place, then gives the agent a chance to up sell.

    What independents are bad at as a rule, is branding and creating a marketing message that gets you in front of people. Just relying on tradition, or some romantic notion that there will always be people who want a local office full of local people. Or flyer dropping, or 20/20s. The world has changed, either we all need to, or like it or not, there’s going to be a lot of branch closures over the next 10 years.

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  14. Totallymoving52
    May 2, 2017 at 17:57

    HYBRID HYBRID HYBRID – only a few years ago most agents were totally rubbishing online sales agents/portals, I spoke to many ‘head in the sand’ high street agents.  The worm has turned!

    Things are going to keep moving away from ‘high street’ model I’m afraid.  Price is a factor, but let’s face it public perception of estate agents isn’t great, then there’s the cost savings and yes whilst there are good agents out there, my experience over many  years in this industry is the majority provide a pretty poor service I’m afraid.

    Informed property sellers are now looking to not only save money, but take more control.

    Times they are a changing.  I don’t think agents have accepted that fully yet, but unfortunately for those who’ve rested on their laurels for too long that time is approaching fast!

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  15. Property Paddy
    May 3, 2017 at 17:20

    £995 ?

     

    I’ll do it for £500

    Too much?

    OK I’ll do it for £250

    Ok I’ll tell you what I’ll do. One time only offer.

    I’ll pay you to sell your house, how much do you want?

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  16. awicking05
    May 6, 2017 at 10:50

    So here is the long awaited purple bricks sooof advert share and enjoy https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zEFcGgC2kzg #ConMisery

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