Zoopla and DPG spending big on brand

A main question we have regarding the merger of Zoopla and DPG has to be whether they will continue with what will become a considerable stable of brands or whether they will reduce them down to just two or three, or maybe even one brand – unlikely!

The reason this question has come back to mind today is the fact that both DPG and Zoopla are continuing to pump money into marketing their individual brands and whilst I wouldn’t expect anything less, I do wonder how quickly they will get the merger completed so that we can see what brand route they are going to take.

Anyway, Digital Property Group’s new FindaProperty TV ad will be screened this January and they have promised that it will be its biggest and most memorable ever by bringing humour and excitement to the market.

Now obviously Zoopla’s advert already uses humour but DPG are seemingly going to do something a bit more edgy to stand out from the other Portal adverts during January. Sheraz Dar, Marketing Director, says they are using a number of everyday characters who unexpectedly break out into mind-boggling raps to share their property wants – each solved by going to Findaproperty.com.

What is genuinely original and exciting to hear is that they are expecting people will want to interact and engage with the concept, so the TV adverts along with radio and press executions are just the start of the campaign which will be fully integrated across social networks with competitions, dedicated websites and blogs.

So there may now be one good reason to tune in to ITV’s Dancing on Ice this Saturday – or you can sneak a peek here!

Zoopla however are going down a different road with their January advertising campaign.

They are launching their biggest national advertising campaign to date which includes national TV and radio as you would expect. But the exciting thing with the Zoopla campaign is that there are also going to be hundreds of Zoopla-branded London taxis hitting the streets.

In line with Zoopla’s campaign theme around ‘smarter property search’, each of the Zoopla-branded cabs is unique, displaying property data for different areas of London including average asking prices, rents, property values and sold prices, designed to give Londoners the data they need to make better-informed property decisions.

Whilst I certainly don’t envisage people reaching for pen and paper to jot down their local sold prices as taxi’s pass them in the street, it does underline their focus on being the first port of call for sellers and the opportunity for agents to capture leads during the first stages of people considering moving – One of Zoopla’s USP’s.

Which may lead on to the decison making process when it comes to DPG and Zoopla deciding on brand. My view is that they will probably keep Zoopla, Findaproperty and primelocation, with the view that they serve different purposes and capture different people at different points in their journey.

Of course, I could be completely wrong. What do you think?