Realtor.com® begins airing edgy national ad campaign

By Kim Shindle
May 18, 2015
2 min.

Realtor.com^® announced a new logo and national ad campaign during the National Association of Realtors® Legislative Meetings last week in Washington, D.C. The campaign, which blends humor with film star Elizabeth Banks, will position realtor.com® as the best – and truest – provider of real estate information and services for buyers, sellers and renters of properties in the U.S.

The TV ads debut today and will run across major broadcast networks and cable channels, including CBS – where a 30-second slot has been secured on the eagerly anticipated final episode of the Late Show with David Letterman on May 20 – HGTV, Bravo, TBS, Comedy Central and Spike, among others. Web videos featuring Banks will break later.

The new ads are intended to appeal to a wide consumer target – from Millennials looking for small, low-priced homes for themselves and their pets to young couples looking for more space on tight budgets to families looking for bigger, longer-term homes.

The campaign represents the biggest and boldest marketing initiative in realtor.com’s® nearly 20-year history and unfolds against the backdrop of a marketplace that has been seismically altered by the recent acquisition of Move by News Corp and the merger of competitors Zillow and Trulia.

“Serving buyers, sellers and renters of properties with the best information and tools anytime, anywhere and communicating the value brokers and agents provide as trusted guides through the process is our utmost priority,” said Ryan O’Hara, chief executive officer of Move. “This is what we mean by what’s real in real estate – and what sets us apart.”

Banks’ directorial debut, the musical comedy Pitch Perfect 2, opened in theaters nationwide last week. Later this year, she will reprise her role in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2.

Regarding her interest in participating in the realtor.com^® campaign, Banks said, “I’m a little house obsessed and looking for a new home right now, which made the opportunity to work on the new realtor.com^® ad campaign a great fit. I love the accessibility of realtor.com^®. My husband and I email each other photos of houses to look at and the other person can pull them right up – no matter where they are. The realtor.com^® app literally allows you to take the home buying experience with you everywhere in your daily life.”