Real estate agents were being squeezed out of the market by “pay-to-play” apps that restricted agents from showcasing their listings unless they paid to promote them. They had lost control of the real estate process, while big proptech profited from agents’ hard-earned listings. Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing” alum Fredrik Eklund and Hong Kong’s real estate success Thomas Ma created the first social media app built for real estate agents and the only one that democratizes the global landscape and connects agents directly to sellers and buyers.

Challenge

REAL Messenger came to Bospar to launch this new social platform successfully in the U.S., which was going to require an entire marketing stack. Unfortunately, Thomas Ma only had a logo, an app… and a ticking clock!

Our objectives were clear:

1. Ready the app for its coming out party to U.S. agents and press. Focus on user experience and essential competitive advantages over mega-sites like Zillow and Redfin.
2. Launch at the Inman Real Estate Conference (which was just two months away). Create and stand up an engaging, crowd-pleasing debut that would drive agents to download the app at the country’s most significant real estate conference.
3. Build mass awareness. Mobilize integrated marketing and PR across digital platforms to drive awareness beyond the conference.

Solution

Bospar worked quickly to help REAL understand its target audience and market, position the brand, and mobilize a multi-faceted, cross-platform launch campaign to reach the press, the public, and, most importantly, real estate industry players.

REAL was set to launch in less than two months at the Inman Real Estate Conference in Las Vegas. We dove into action on a number of things including:

• Bospar created a 360-campaign that included email marketing, content marketing, digital advertising, PR including media training and media relations, social media marketing, website design, development and copy, video commercials, a webinar, and conference event marketing.
• We media trained co-founders and pitched the launch to targeted media.
• The extensive campaign concept, “Get Real,” became the brand’s rallying cry, capturing the value proposition and messaging strategy exquisitely. 

Results

Our strategy delivered extraordinary results across the board, beginning with:

• Email marketing: To secure Inman attendees for the company’s presentation and launch party. Open rate of 42% was almost double the 24% typical Inman response.
• Digital advertising: Custom digital ads created across social media and the Inman site. Digital ads performed well over the .06 industry average, with a click-through rate of 0.18%.

“PR handled everything from go-to-market strategy to coordination with Fredrik and his team to detailed implementation. They were my proactive advisors on every step – as if they were our in-house team. And the buzz at Inman was fantastic!” 

– Thomas Ma, CEO and founder, REAL.