Entrepreneur Antony Catalano's View Media Group (VMG) today launched view.com.au, which delivers a new way for buyers to find properties and for vendors and agents to connect with those buyers via a freemium listing model.
The portal, available via App stores and at view.com.au, offers a view of all established properties across the country, whether they’re for sale or not.
That means view.com.au will showcase more than 11 million properties compared other portals which feature around 140,000 properties for sale. The map-based search is being delivered via technology group Nearmap.
The portal play address what Catalano, the executive chairman of VMG, calls the real estate industry’s concern at escalating prices for advertising.
The product launch is supported by a brand, positioning and marketing campaign, developed by The Monkeys, part of Accenture Song, launching on AFL Grand Final Day with brand TVC spots nationally during the AFL Grand Final broadcast on Channel 7, 7plus, and print wraps across the ACM network.
The initial media campaign will run until early December across Channel 7, 7plus, ACM, QMS digital assets and will be supported by extensive digital activity.
Catalano, with regional media group ACM co-owner Alex Waislitz, launched the real estate digital media and agent services business VMG a year ago. It has investment from the ANZ bank and from Seven West Media.
“We feel that restricting consumers to only being able to search for those properties that are currently for sale is extremely limiting," says Catalano, a former CEO of Domain Group.
"It's like saying that you should only advertise a job vacancy to those that are unemployed. Often the best candidate is already employed and we feel the same logic can be applied in the property category and that often the best house for an individual is not currently for sale.
"View allows buyers to look at all properties; listed or unlisted and if a property isn't currently for sale they will be able to express interest in that property to hopefully stimulate the market and encourage transactions that might not have otherwise occurred.
"Our plan is to create a digital real estate superstore under the new View brand that will play in the $300 billion adjacency categories rather than solely focus on the $1 billion of digital property advertising.
“With View, our freemium listings model is a game changer and will allow vendors to list their properties for free, with upgrade options available for those agents who wish to further promote their listings and their brands.
"We’ve listened to the industry and the time is right for an offer to come to market with an alternative model that addresses the real estate industry’s concern at the continually escalating price of advertising.”
VMG chief marketing officer Paul Tyrrell said the group wanted to do things a bit differently from traditional property marketing.
"Our positioning is that with View you ‘See All’; a simple and clean representation of the complete view of the market that the new View product delivers," he says.
“Our brand campaign developed in partnership with The Monkeys in Melbourne illustrates the extraordinary lengths that some people go to get ahead in the property game, however with View there’s no need to. Our aim is to present View as the solution to the problem of the difficulty in finding property that suits you.
“We want to have a bit of fun with it, so we have played with humour to ensure memorability and cut through while always ensuring the core message out take and product uniqueness is clear, which is critical for any launch. Keep an eye out for our Property Eagle.”
Ant Keogh, chief creative officer, The Monkeys, part of Accenture Song, says the real estate category is highly competitive.
"And as the new player to market we needed to cut through and be as distinctive as possible," he says.
"Nothing says distinctive like your very own property eagle. Because short of having an actual eagle, View.com.au gives punters the best view at properties across Australia.”
Seven West Media CEO James Warburton says View Media Group is an exciting game-changer for the property industry.
"Antony’s experience and the expert team he has assembled will help VMG be the ultimate destination for property seekers and sellers in Australia. Seven West Media is firmly behind Antony and the VMG team and looks forward to its success," Warburton says.
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