Century 21 Puts Open Houses in Youtube
Century21 has launched what they’re calling the “Housing Industry’s First Branded YouTube Channel” – you can find Century21’s Channel here.
They’re hoping to source user-generated (read consumer) videos from home sellers who will work in conjunction with their Century21 agents to produce a video walkthru of their properties.
Videos like this one.
(Nice place – not sure about the double toilet though…)
To spur participation they are offering a $21,000 check and a couple of HDTVs for the best video. Runners up get a digital video camera (probably a Flip or something similar).
Winners will be selected by the Youtube community and the grand prize will be chosen by Century21.
It’s an interesting experiment. And, quite frankly, a better use of Web 2.0 technology than Coldwell Banker’s recent attempts (see Coldwell and Banker Back At Helm).
A couple things come to mind though.
It’s probably not going to generate much buzz from the “Youtube community” – I doubt many viewers on YT are seriously looking at real estate right now. They’re probably too busy watching videos like this Unbelievable Hockey Fight (way crazy).
What it may do, and I suspect is C21’s ulterior motive in all of this, is encourage their Realtors to seriously start thinking about how they can begin using video to market properties.
As silly and Mickey Mouse as some of these videos may seem, it could end up being a great exercise in educating C21 agents and home sellers on the dos and don’t of real estate video.
And if that’s the end result of this campaign, then it would be a success in my books.
What I’d love to see is C21 publish their learnings at the end of this promotion on what real estate buyers want from a walkthru video. Which videos were the winners and why?
(BTW – RE video hopefuls should take some cues from IntoTheBox.tv – now there’s some great real estate video!)
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19 Comment(s)
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Geordie Romer | Mar 11, 2008 | Reply
I think this is a great example of a big real estate company encouraging its agents to dive into web 2.0. Will it sell more houses? Maybe. But it shows a willingness to go beyond the tried and true newspaper ads and open houses that worked so well in 1979. Did anything become of Coldwell Bankers (?) corporate blogging for every agent? I didn’t think so. Video is still cool and I think the $21 k is a small investment to get folks excited about it.
jason | Mar 11, 2008 | Reply
It says they joined YouTube almost two years ago – yet their videos are a few weeks old. Not very impressive for 23 1/2 months in the making.
I was excited to see what C21 was going do with social media – at least here in Canada. I saw the Inman Connect video talking about a blog for every agent and agency in the country.
Yet – the main Century 21 Blog doesn’t allow for comments.
I took a spin through some of their barren agency blogs, and in some cases – half the agents hadn’t filled in their bios.
So much potential…
Joshua Ferris | Mar 11, 2008 | Reply
Century 21 actually has the opposite problem of Coldwell Banker with this effort because the quality of their campaign is far lower but the entertainment value and potential consumer reaction is much higher.
The videos you’ve posted (including the funny but exaggerated tour) are a good start but the quality and production of the videos are dreadful.
Fail x2 (We can’t forget about the lovely gold blazers!)
So that’s two corporate real estate companies that have failed to do an effective, high quality and entertaining campaign to spur the interest of consumers and agents. In order for it to be deemed effective I would expect a campaign that’s so striking and interesting that it makes established top producers and consumers alike say “they might be on to something here…”
Thanks for playing though.
Jerry Larach | Mar 12, 2008 | Reply
Joel,
You are right about the fact that technology does not sell houses….It’s the direct contact with people that does.
Real estate it’s a people’s business…but who knows…Let’s see how this business evolves with the use of video.
I’m really looking forward to see that outcome.
Jerry
Tim O'Keefe | Mar 12, 2008 | Reply
Nice find Joel.
I agree with you that YouTubers are more sophomoric in their viewing. And if I was a betting man, I would bet against C21’s new project.
However, they could always use the channel as a host and place it on another website to get interest going.
But in the end I think they are working against the trends. I do think the incentives to make a cool video puts the pressure to do a video on the owner. Thats takes it off the agent who is always pressured to over produce, wich can analysis paralysis or just budgetary sedation. However, like you said, who is going to watch the thing?
Marius | Mar 12, 2008 | Reply
I’ve used videos in the recent past to get transactions going. And it worked like a charm. I believe in the future of it.
My business will in fact try to use as much of the new and non-conventional forms of advertising as possible. From the existing experiments, it’s all 100% working.
Frank | Mar 12, 2008 | Reply
I watched the bad real estate video and was on the floor laughing. This girl raises the question if real estate agents should be producing video content. After seeing her show, I would say not. Joel, I agree with you and question if youtube is the right place for the agents to be selling. Keep up the great work!
Val | Mar 12, 2008 | Reply
Last year I began using YouTube for virtual tours! It is great.
Use the MTV “Cribs” approach and hire a PR looker to do the tour, or have the owner do it.
We’re all going to be in the movies!
Maybe I need acting lessons!
Cyndee Haydon | Mar 12, 2008 | Reply
Joel – I started doing video testimonials last summer and 1 has over 2500 views, consumers love them – I love video – I just need more hours in my days! lol
Michael Pierce : Kansas City Real Estate | Mar 13, 2008 | Reply
I think you are right, it seems to be a way for C21 to get their agents to explore Web 2.0 (since so many agents still do not use it). The only issue I see is that you would be running into a saturation of poor quality videos. Then again, like you said in your post…most YouTubers are there for fun and may not watch them anyway. I have recently started uploading different marketing videos and videos/slideshows of my listings onto Youtube as well but only time will tell if it is successful. I find that is a great way to get more exposure for your listings and services. It will be interesting to see if and how successful real estate video marketing on YouTube will become. I have found another site that has a better quality look then Youtube videos when you embed them in a blog so I have started using it as well for my real estate videos. Maybe a Youtube like site for for business will emerge. By having a site just for business videos though, you would really cut down your number of visitors. One just cant beat the amount of user impressions you can get on Youtube.
Anthony C | Mar 13, 2008 | Reply
Well, I realize that shaky cameras, tilted perspectives and audio that sounds like it was recorded in a dungeon all contribute to a so-called “real” feel, but come on. That piece could have been produced by strapping a camera to my dog. Spark it up a little bit, people. If you don’t want it to look like a slick infomercial-type production, fine. But there’s an awful lot of territory between super-slick and super-sick.
Bliss Advertising | Mar 13, 2008 | Reply
I think the real question is what is considered to be a real estate video tour. There are hundreds of companies out there that offer fade-in-fade-out pictures, with voice over and streaming audio. I own an advertising company that specializes in actual video walk-through tours. The issue is with most real estate agents is trying to convince them that video is better than pictures, and the other thought of 80% of homebuyers look on the internet before calling them. I beleive strongly on highering a professional to film their tours because if you don’t, you end up with a bunch of videos people get sick of watching the first 10 seconds into the video. We aren’t watching backwoods hunting videos here. Were trying to sell million dollar homes. If a real estate agent doesn’t want to spend 5-10% of their commission on creating a professional video tour of the home that can cover all major avenues of web marketing, we all might be stuck with low quality videos.
DSC | Mar 13, 2008 | Reply
I have been placing my homes on youtube and on myspace and just because Century 21 places theirs on youtube that makes the news? It only shows how independents have done something and now a bigger company has come in to follow what we have done.
Josette Skilling | Mar 13, 2008 | Reply
Oh, I hope those were the don’t do videos! I am all for video, pictures, neighborhood tours, floorplans, etc. Anything that gives buyers enough interest to move foward on a property because it caught their attention in the glut of property around them. But this ain’t gonna cut it!
Yes, there is potential and the smart companies will get in front of the marketing opportunites here for promotion on so many fronts. Video is high on my list this year.
Davison | Mar 14, 2008 | Reply
That girl has more of that bad real estate video series on her vlog. She actually brings up some decent points about being a video advertisement vs providing real information about the homes we are trying to sell.
And she’s cute!
Gene Thorpe | Mar 16, 2008 | Reply
century 21 on youtube
Todd Waller | Mar 18, 2008 | Reply
Our team in Ann Arbor has been creating and using narrated walkthrough videos in our SE Michigan marketplace for just under a year now. The response has been phenomenal and the use of sites like YouTube has been great for “Long Tail” marketing online.
In marketplaces where video is not even close to the norm, video quality almost becomes a non-issue. Obviously, the highlights of the property need to come through.
We’ve also experimented with professionally produced walkthroughs. Oddly enough, we get more positive response on our quick and dirty hand held videos than we do the professional ones.
Just my two cents.
George | Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
Kudos Century 21. I am a realtor and avid video virtual tour guy: last year I sold every listing-over $3 million worth-and I attribute a lot of the success to out-of-the-box ideas and new technologies like my video listings.
They worked so well I started my own video virtual tour company-VIRTUOO. (http://virtuoo.com).
I also have a youtube page, along with a myspace, metacafe, wellcomemat, and a list of others that I host mine and my client’s videos.
Thanks for bringing attention to the video virtual tour industry and WEB 2.0 for real estate.
-George Hartline
http://virtuoo.com
http://youtube.com/georgehartlinehomes
maryanne | Apr 3, 2008 | Reply
I am a small boutique real estate company but have been using professionally filmed videos for my high end properties for over a year now with great success. We also do our own stitching tours for all our listings. I think Video is great. See some of our videos and owners stories at http://www.PremierVideosandStories.com Check out my blog at http://www.RealEstateMarketMinute.com and my website at http://www.2ndHomeConnection.com
.The above comment was good that sometimes we small Realty companies get things going and then the big guys join in. Thanks for good report on video in real estate.