Celebrity Marketing Creates a Powerful Consumer Connection

Recap by Paul Bergeron

Marketers must make spokesperson the face of the brand, make sure there’s commitment and measure the results.

Nike’s partnership with Michael Jordan in 1985 changed the trajectory of Nike forever.

Celebrity marketing works. Just look at what Michael Jordan did for Nike. Or ask Patrick Dodson, Vice President, Head of Marketing, at Apartments.com.

Dodson was featured on a panel recently at the Apartment Innovation and Marketing Conference, speaking to the added value that celebrity endorsements in marketing can bring.

One in five commercials today has a famous person in it. Consumers have an average of 3,000 ads put in front of them per day. It’s a competitive landscape, “but research shows marketers can expect a 4 percent increase in sales from a celebrity endorsement; and in Year 1, you can get up to a 20 percent boost for doing it.”

In doing so, it’s vital to choose the right spokesperson, Dodson says. Apartments.com began its campaign in 2015 with actor Jeff Goldblum cast as tech company CEO and extraordinaire Brad Bellflower, and it’s been wildly successful ever since.

Then, Apartments.com had just powered its way into becoming the leading Internet Listing Site in the industry when it acquired several competitors.

“We wanted to not only greatly improve the site, but to generate the largest audience in this industry and drive the best leads and most leases to our customers,” says Dodson, who joined Apartments.com shortly after the Bellflower launch.

Parent company CoStar Group commissioned the advertising and media agency RPA based in Santa Monica, Calif., to handle the account.

“We told them that our research had found that it’s just not a fun process to find an apartment,” Dodson says. “We asked them to help us to break through with our product and to have fun with it; something light-hearted.”

Goldblum wasn’t Apartments.com’s first and only choice. Dodson said there actually were six other prospects on the short list, but eventually Goldblum won them over in a huge way.

Perrin Anderson, VP Group Creative Director at RPA, explained, “We didn’t want an actor, we wanted an actor to play the character Brad Bellflower. We wanted someone who was a bit eccentric, and an intelligent guy. Kind of an Elon Musk or Richard Branson type. Jeff was a great fit. He had the charm, gravitas, and a quirky sense of humor. He was recognizable because he’s been in many iconic roles.

“He’s really overperformed the role for us,” said Selena Pizarro, SVP Production at RPA. “He enjoys the work and enjoys the brand. Jeff really does love Apartments.com. He gets so excited about the opportunities we bring him. He’s so curious. He understands it all. He brings a lot to every script.”

AIM Reimagine 2021 Celebrity Marketing Session / Pictured from left to right: Courtney Patterson, Senior Director of Marketing at Northwood Ravin; Patrick Dodson, VP Head of Marketing at Apartments.com; Tina Mortera, CMO/SVP of Marketing & Communications at Progress Residential.

How Much Budgeting Splits Have Changed

To show how far it has become to reach the ideal demographic in advertising, Dodson says that in 2015, Apartments.com spent 80 percent of its budget on traditional channels such as television, radio and print, with a touch of social media.

He said Apartments.com began the campaign ranked third among its targeted audience for unaided awareness and then quickly became No. 1. He said the site went from about 5 million visitors per month to now more than 34 million. He said today prospects are typing Apartments.com into the search bar. And revenues continue their great run with now 60,000 communities using Apartments.com.

In 2021, the company is now spending 80 percent on digital to better reach their 40-and-under demographic and 20 percent on traditional. Bellflower appears everywhere. He’s doing TikTok, has his own Instagram and Twitter accounts, as well as a Facebook page.

“TikTok is wildly effective in real estate,” Dodson says. “Instagram – we’re all over that, too.”

Embrace TikTok, Instagram, Podcasts and Streaming Platforms

Apartments.com’s current Instagram (IG) reels campaign humorlessly tackles some annoying roommate habits such as food in the fridge, privacy and the in-unit washer and dryer.

“We paid a bit to boost them at the start, and they turned out fun and successful,” Dodson said. “The organic searches on our brand now are keeping them going well.”

Bellflower also is featured on Peacock, one of the streaming services that resulted in more than 50 million American homes “cutting the cord.”

Apartments.com can potentially reach all 30 million of Peacock’s subscribers by sponsoring some of its programs. “This episode is brought to you, ad-free, thanks to our sponsor Apartments.com,” it says.

The Apartments.com brand is also woven into several popular podcasts, such as those hosted by Jay Cutler, Mike Tyson, and others. In one spot, the podcast host Conan O’Brien says he always wins arguments with friends about which is the greatest apartment ILS because he always chooses Apartments.com.

“You have to go where your customer is,” Dodson says, adding, “We drop off Bellflower-branded collateral at our customers’ communities to share with their renters.”

Are You Going to Renew Brad Bellflower?

“Our guiding principle is to follow the viewer where they are watching.” Patrick Dodson, from his Celebrity Marketing presentation at AIM Reimagine 2021

Dodson said, “People ask us, ‘Are you going to renew Brad this year?’ It seems we must because it’s still working. We follow the social media channels and see how much they like to talk about him; they love him.”

Customers such as Kate Good at Hunington Properties in Houston are among the testimonial videos that Apartments.com promotes. In hers, she says it’s always a pleasure to sit down at night and watch a program on Bravo, for example, and then up pops an Apartments.com ad. This way, “I know my ads are working for me even though I’m not even at work,” Good says.

Keeping with today’s rental trends, Apartments.com’s most recent TV ad features a spotlight on pets in apartments, touting all of the listings it has for communities that welcome pets.

Taking it another step, Apartments.com held a contest on social media for its users to choose what type of dog Bellflower should own (a Corgi) and what to name it (Dot). Pretty soon, don’t be surprised if Dot becomes a celebrity.