Glenvill Homes Case Study and client testimonial The Client Glenvill Homes is the residential homes division of Glenvill Corporation, Australia's most award-honoured builder of luxury homes, commercial and resort developments. The Problem The client had created a neighbourhood of new homes by buying an entire court in a new residential estate and building eight completely different homes in a landscaped environment. This was a major investment for the client, and the newly-appointed General Manager (the owner's son) wanted to ensure that it was highly successful, since it broke new ground in display home presentation. He wanted an integrated approach to the advertising. The incumbent ad agency, despite a strong track record in the building industry, had hit a blank wall strategically and creatively, and time had effectively run out for them. They called John Counsel, who specialises in trouble-shooting for other ad agencies. Because of the short lead time, PR placements in home and interior design magazines were out of the question. It would be all down to the advertising. The Solution John inspected the new development, due to open in less than three weeks, and asked an architect friend to accompany him. As they toured the eight homes, the architect was highly impressed, both by the design concepts and the high standard of craftsmanship and attention to detail. John asked if there was a common theme to the development that the architect could identify. "Yes," replied the architect, "the designer has a breathtaking grasp of light and space. Every home feels much larger and brighter than it really is. It's sensational. I've never seen it done so well, in so many different homes." John reflected on these comments and realised that these were two of the main characteristics that distinguished the Renaissance era. So he gave the project a name and slogan that reflected this: Glenvill Design Centre The New Renaissance Since marble was a strong feature in all of the homes — from kitchen benchtops to entrance floors and bathrooms — the art direction for the campaign incorporated marble into the clean, light, uncluttered style of the advertising, and a typestyle which was contemporary, but with classic nuances, was chosen — Novarese from International Type Corporation. John appointed a woman photographer friend to photograph the new homes, briefing her to focus on the possibilities from a female perspective, at the same time optimising light and space. The resulting portfolio of "atmosphere" photos was stunning, and became the focal point of each advertisement in the campaign. It was decided to use "junior page" (40 x 5 ccm) display ads in weekend press (early general news and home features or supplements) in the days before the opening of the project, and in ensuing weeks, to create visitor traffic. A controversial theme was chosen to focus reader attention on the different aspects of the homes — the visual beauty and lifestyle enhancements offered by the architectural styles, floor plans and features, as distinct from the craftsmanship and attention to detail of the construction — and to directly target women readers with the first and men readers with the second, knowing that both aspects would appeal to both groups anyway. Provocative headlines were also created to grab reader attention and underscore the theme. These included the two ads featured in the PDF files (see below). The first, "Leave Your Husband!" (at home) was designed to emphasise how the lady of the house would feel in one of these homes, as the home maker, as a returning business executive at the end of a busy day, as a mother, as a hostess, etc. And how would her family, visitors and guests feel? If she came alone, she could revel in the atmosphere, explore the design features, how her work would be reduced — and her enjoyment enhanced — by the ingenuity of the floor plans and features, appliances, etc. On the other hand, if she brought her husband with her, he'd spend the whole time pointing out the handcrafted detail of a staircase banister, the curved underside of an eave, the intricate detailing of a dutch gable, the skilled laying of an energy efficient tiled floor, etc etc etc. The second ad, headed "Don't Bring Your Wife!" focused on the homes from a male perspective, highlighting the construction, the finish, the workmanship, the practicality of the design and features, etc etc etc. As expected, this resulted in an emotional response from certain sections of the community — none of whom were ever likely to be in the market for the client's homes, anyway. Polite replies were sent to each letter writer acknowledging their concerns. As an ongoing promotional strategy, we ran 8-page colour supplements in weekend newspapers. We had hoped to negotiate exclusivity for our client, once a month, but the savvy advertising manager of the daily newspaper we approached declined. Instead, he offered to refrain from running a competing feature one week before and after our client's feature. We immediately booked our client's features for every third week, thereby ensuring exclusivity for the rest of the year. It was a win for the paper and for our client. The Results John was away on the weekend the Design Centre opened to the public, but decided to call in on the Sunday afternoon on his way back from the country, to see if the ads were doing their job. The first indication came when he was unable to finding a parking spot, after nearly half an hour of searching, less than a mile (1.6 km) from the display. As he and his wife approached the Centre on foot, they encountered a queue waiting to enter almost a quarter mile long. Fortunately, the chairman of Glenvill, driving past, spotted them and personally escorted them through the jam-packed display homes. Despite the sardine-can crowds in each home, the light and space still triumphed. The development recovered more than half of its multi-million dollar investment in the first two days, and the rest within the week. It won every award possible — and some that were created specifically for it as a ground breaking approach to new home marketing — and was featured widely in the media, including all the leading home and interior design magazines. (As a nice side note, the photographer won an award for outstanding achievement as well.) The creative direction for the campaign was widely imitated over ensuing years, with Australia's largest home builder using it almost verbatim three years later. The campaign was an unequivocal success. 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