7 Insights to Killer 3D Marketing Campaigns by Stan Zaslavsky

7 Insights to Killer 3D Marketing Campaigns Essential Guide to Organising Powerful Marketing Campaigns for Off-the-Plan Property Development Projects

EAGLE VISION PROPERTY

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By Stan Zaslavsky Eagle Vision速 Property

Table of Contents Introduction & Our Background Insight 1: Target Market Know who you are selling to before you sell

Insight 2: Brand Your Project How to create a point of difference for your project and stand out of the crowd

Insight 3: Prepare & Style Your World How having all the information ready and picked out can create a level of realism beyond your imagination and speed up delivery!

Insight 4: Online and Offline How your marketing imagery will be presented in online vs offline marketing

Insight 5: Value or Cost Why considering value of high quality artist impressions is more important than saving costs

Insight 6: Present a Complete Picture Launch all marketing collateral at once

Insight 7: Work with an Expert How working with an expert prevents costly mistakes and saves your time

Next Steps

ÂŠ Eagle Vision Property 2012

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“Vision is the art of seeing the invisible.” — Jonathan Swift

Introduction What has always fascinated and inspired me in our industry is how professional property developers and architects have a great vision of what their projects are going to look and feel like. And while their vision and imagination can speak volumes - supporting virtual images used for marketing the development off-the-plan quite often fall flat in the delivery. And in asking this question of what is it that separates that vision of the project that a developer has and a high quality imagery that accurately and effectively communicates it to the prospective buyers - I have decided to put together this document to talk about the top ten factors from our professional opinion to improve this gap in communication if not eradicate it altogether. Certainly the high level of artistic skill is important and that’s what makes some of the images coming out of top 3D imagery studios really stand out. However there are still some simple basics that once implemented could make most if not all the difference between an image that will sell versus an image that can easily be seen is done on computer and will be largely ineffective. And how what we do when we first encounter a project is we go through an informal process that we have titled Marketing Strategy Audit - learn more about it by clicking here. © Eagle Vision Property 2012

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Background to Eagle Vision Property & Stan Zaslavsky I started off in the property development industry in 2001, having come from an engineering/industrial design background. Initially my experience was gained in setting up and brokering joint ventures between land owners and professional development consultants. This progressed through to me specialising in marketing mixed use residential development sites and becoming a licensed estate agent in 2004, because I felt that in order to really understand the fundamentals of the industry and be effective in my role, I needed to have the right level of accreditation. In 2006 an opportunity came up to work on the other side and learn what it takes to purchase development sites for clients, which I took up as it helped to further understand what a developer has to go through in putting together feasibility studies and laying out a concept for a development. Having then spent two years working as a buyers advocate and purchasing almost 40 projects, further added to my experience of seeing what real estate professionals were doing well and not so well in marketing development property off-theplan. As I was working in the field - I saw a glaring hole in 3D marketing imagery that was being produced and used by some property developers. So in mid 2008, Eagle Vision Property was established to create effective marketing imagery for property developments to help developers, marketing agencies and real estate agents to sell them off-the-plan. What quickly became apparent to me was that most of the graphic design providers had a background in either architecture or graphic design and whilst some being really good at graphics or visualising the 3D spaces, there was very little guidance provided to their clients around the marketability of the images. Most merely acted as “order takers”, believing that whatever the clients say is gospel and should not be discussed any further. As a result, it often led to frustration on both sides because the client would have some ideas and would then relay them to the 3D designer to implement in 3D, but when the result came back unsatisfactory - it became a “back and forwards” affair until two things happened. Either the visual artist eventually got the image right (which quite often took considerably longer than originally expected) or the developer ran out of time, as the marketing had to be presented to the market and they just went with the latest iteration of the image.

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Both of these scenarios because of the delays in the process, create a domino effect and cause delays in the delivery of the print and online material, which end up costing thousands of dollars in not only lost revenue in being late to the market, but also in accrued interest on the land holdings by the developers, thus further reducing already slim profit margins in their projects. And its not that the client’s ideas and suggestions should be taken lightly or ignored - the key is that the 3D perspectives provider needs to be a specialist in marketing imagery - key word being “marketing”. By definition “marketing” means either 1. The act or process of buying and selling in a market or 2. The commercial functions involved in transferring goods from producer to consumer. From the second part of this definition, the creative side of the imagery is very important - however what is even more important is how applicable these images are to the local context and how well do they engage the target market and compel them to take further actions, namely getting a prospective purchaser to get in touch with the marketing agents to purchase the property. What this means is that - not only do the pretty pictures count, what’s more important is to have the pictures engaging and attractive to the end buyers! I’d like to start off our discussion by sharing a humourous example of how marketing imagery can add value and change lives of developers, architects and estate agents. A little while back we were involved in creating marketing imagery for a hotly contested apartment project in an inner suburb of Melbourne. The client had come to us with the model and drawings requesting the exterior perspective created as well as a number of other items for the project. So we created an image with life and scenery including a man on the balcony with a camera as well as other people around the project’s streetscape. Little did we know that one of the objectors to the development proposal was a very adamant neighbour across a busy road who insisted that she likes to sunbathe bare in her front yard behind a high fence and the residents of the development would see her. When we called the architect for feedback on the image - he said that we have a great sense of humour and only when he told us about the objector - we all had a good laugh about the image. Obviously not to antagonise the situation any further - we removed the man with the camera from the balcony - but its just one example how people and scenery can affect the marketing campaigns of the project so much.

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Insight 1: Target Market Know who you are selling to before you sell Knowing the target market of your development and styling the project to suit is one of the main keys to success in the marketing of your project. Similarly not recognising this principle and approaching every project marketing exercise with the same broad brush approach could be disastrous. Just like baking a cake, you need to know what the outcome that you are trying to reach is similarly here. Present your project with the target market identified and catered to. Demographics of a suburb and nature of the nearby vicinity act as a great guide to how your project should be styled. By defining your target market you will sell your project quicker as your guidelines will be clear to your suppliers and consultants. • Style your project to satisfy the demand • Sell your project quicker • Identify your project’s finish and fit out

The 3 Habits of a Property Developer Who Understands their Target Market in Great Detail Habit 1. They understand what their target market is going to be looking for to purchase. Habit 2. They clearly understand the price points of their project. Habit 3. They are up to date with current trends and latest styles in building design and fashions.

Case Study Having dealt with many developers over the last 10 years, the successful developers have a clear strategy and are crystal clear on the target market that they are selling their projects to.

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One particular example that stands out is a recent project in Braybrook, which was in is an inner western suburb in Melbourne about 8kms from CBD. The developer went a step further and engaged a Colour consultant to develop a specific Colour scheme and finishes for the project to apply to the target market. Because the creative team had a professional direction, the project imagery looked fantastic, was appropriate to the demographic which is primarily first home buyers who are style conscious and want something trendy and affordable at the same time. And ultimately as soon as the project was launched - sales started coming through door immediately.

â&#x20AC;&#x153; Being clear on your target market is like shooting an arrow at a target - you know exactly what to aim for â&#x20AC;?

ÂŠ Eagle Vision Property 2012

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Insight 2: Brand Your Project How to create a point of difference for your project and stand out of the crowd In a world of grey, nondescript buildings and no-name projects - it takes a bit of creativity and smarts to make your development stand out. What does this have to do with artist impressions you may ask - well everything , because when the project has an identity - that identity can and should be presented throughout the artist impressions - whether it’s about embedding the name of the development in the exterior features, or putting a beautiful mosaic internally in the entrance foyer to the building. Each building is unique and to help it shape its identity, branding is certainly a great way to make your project stand out. • Creating a brand for your project, will help it stand out amongst the crowd of grey and nondescript developments • Name and style of the project create its identity • Buyers want to identify with a project and its amenity • Often creative architects will assist in branding the project through external finishes and features • Having a consistent brand throughout all the marketing collateral presents a highly professional and quality presentation to prospective buyers

The 7 Reasons to Branding a Project Reason 1. Set yourself apart from the crowd Reason 2. Create a point of difference Reason 3. Create a unique identity for your project Reason 4. Help your purchasers identify with its uniqueness Reason 5. Allow real estate agents to market your project with a consistent brand and colour scheme

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Reason 6. Establish a point of uniqueness throughout the visual presentation Reason 7. Achieve better sales figures because of unique points of the development

Case Study In late 2008, we worked on a boutique development of 20 apartments in a south eastern suburb of Melbourne which was situated in Murray Street. So with a bit of creative thought and application, we assisted the developer in coming up with a French river theme and the project was ultimately called La Rivière.

with the aquatic theme of the project.

This helped enormously and as a consequence to this, further external features, such as timber and water elements were brought in to coincide

Furthermore throughout subsequent successful marketing of the project, the real estate agents used this brand of the development with all the prospective purchasers.

“Branding a project is like becoming an instant celebrity - there is no way getting away from attention & everywhere you go, you stand out of the crowd.”

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Insight 3: Style Your World How having all the information ready and picked out can create a level of realism beyond your imagination and speed up delivery! We love working with developers and marketing agents who know what they want. It is such a breath of fresh air when we are told that we want to have internally this kind of couch, this kind of coffee table, this kind of plant in the corner, rug, sculptures and the list goes on. Having the developer really attached to the outcome of the project and being on top of this information, is really helpful for us to know what they want and typically makes for a beautiful project on the outcome. • Knowing the clear expectations of a client sets the right boundaries and expectations • Scope of work is easily identified • We can research and present exactly what the client wants • Time frames are shortened as there is no second guessing about what needs to be where • Quality of the ultimate product lifts to another level

The 8 Questions to Ensure that All Your Exterior & Interior Scenery Is Ready Question 1. For the exterior image – based on the Demographic research from Insight #1 – Have you selected the type of people and cars you would like in the street? Question 2. For the exterior image – are you going to have a daylight or night-time image? Question 3. For the exterior image - what is the most appealing feature of your development – have you considered all the textures and details of it? Question 4. For the interior images – in the Kitchen - have you selected “knick-knacks” – table furnishings, towels, a vase with fruits or a kitchen cookbook? Question 5. For the interior images – in the Kitchen – have you selected a particular table and chairs per the overall “style” you would like to create? © Eagle Vision Property 2012

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Question 6. For the interior images – in the Living Room – have you selected the type of couch, coffee table and rug? Question 7. For the interior images – in the Living Room – have you selected any particular sculptures or house plants to be in the image? Question 8. For the interior images – in the Living Room – TV cabinets and any other furniture to complement the “style” of the image you are trying to achieve?

Case Study Recently we got to work on a project with a marketing agent who previously was an interior designer. And although she was very particular with her choices, we had a really enjoyable and productive experience as she knew what she wanted and it made it a lot easier for us to visualise exactly her vision. She picked out and knew exactly the type of a lounge she wanted, the type of a kitchen table, chairs and all the other items internally and externally to have the project in a consistent style. And as a result she received exactly what she wanted and the imagery came out looking like from a fashionable magazine. Now it doesn’t mean that you as the developer must have an interior design degree - all that it means, is that if you have clarity on what you want and can provide references and examples to your designers - then most often than not you’ll get what you want. Or alternatively - engage a colour and interior design consultant team and let them come up with the creative direction of your project.

“Keeping the style of your project consistent & all elements prepared is like completing a puzzle - all the pieces match up together and it looks great as a picture.” © Eagle Vision Property 2012

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Insight 4: Online or Offline How your marketing imagery will be presented in online vs offline marketing Once the imagery is completed, how is it going to be marketed? Have you thought through various online and offline methods of project marketing? Today there is an enormous number of methods available to present and sell your project. Google Adwords campaigns, dedicated websites, email marketing campaigns, Twitter and Facebook marketing of developments are all adding new channels for reaching your prospective buyers and ensuring they get to preview your projects and make an enquiry. However having all of these various online channels, does not remove the need for having print advertising of the developments. Billboards in highly visible locations, print campaigns in local newspapers are difficult to measure ROI, however are still very valuable for raising the visibility and profile of the development in the public eye. The output of the artist impressions process has to be delivered appropriately to handle all of these various methods. For high quality printing, the imagery often needs to be produced at 150 dpi or above and at least 5,000 px wide. However for web styled images - often 1,200 px wide images are sufficient. • Keep in mind various online and offline channels for marketing your development • Presenting your development with its own website allows to present a number of lifestyle photos along with beautiful visuals of the project • Online marketing methods include Google Adwords and campaigns on Social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin • Offline methods include print brochures, billboards, newspaper editorials and letter box campaigns

The 7 Steps to Successful Online and Offline Marketing Campaigns Step 1 Decide which channels will be used for marketing your development project

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Step 2 For printing to high resolution, work with your printing company to decide on the resolution and size of the imagery required Step 3 For printing the imagery to large billboards, ensure imagery is created to at least 10,000px wide at 150 dpi to prevent distortion Step 4 For imagery for online marketing, resolution should be typically at least 1,200px wide in RGB format Step 5 Create images at 800*600px resolution to upload images to realestate.com.au and other realestate portals to avoid distortion of the images Step 6 Utilize latest social media marketing through Facebook and Linkedin advertising campaigns Step 7 Launch your project all at once together with Google Adwords campaign to increase the visibility of your project in searches on Google

Case Study With the recent advent of technology, the aim is all about getting the prospective purchaser educated on the development through websites and online. A recent project in Braybrook utilized large billboards with printed images and QR codes on the billboards that lead purchasers directly to the website through their phones. The idea behind this was that while people are driving past the development, they can scan the code on their mobile smartphone and visit the mobile website. A â&#x20AC;&#x153;QR codeâ&#x20AC;? is basically an image like above which contains a URL link (unique relative link) to a website address. This website could then be used to describe the project and collect prospective purchasers details. This way there is a direct connection from a purchaser seeing the project billboard through to being able to collect their details online and then having an opportunity to communicate to the purchasers by email or phone number that they fill out on the expression of interest form online.

ÂŠ Eagle Vision Property 2012

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Recognising and utilising the power of new online & offline marketing methods is just like when the ice age was upon the dinosaurs - they had an opportunity to evolve or disappear.â&#x20AC;?

Insight 5: Value or Cost Why considering value of high quality artist impressions is more important than saving costs with cheap suppliers Cost of the project visuals is obviously an important consideration when it comes to marketing development projects. More importantly however, what should be considered is the value that the high quality visuals will bring to your development. By presenting unique features of your development at a high level and style, lifts sales values of the project by at least 7% as surveyed through a number of marketing agencies when marketing developments. Typical budget allocation for marketing imagery should be up to 1% of the total construction cost of the project from the same survey group. ÂŠ Eagle Vision Property 2012

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• Value of high quality artist impressions lifts sales figures of developments by at least 7% on average • Allocate a specific budget for marketing imagery in the initial feasibility stage for the development • This should be up to 1% of total construction cost

The 5 Factors You Need to Keep In Mind When Considering Value vs Cost Factor 1 Your project is always worth far more than the cost of the images Factor 2 Time delays with an inferior set of images at marketing can cost thousands of dollars Factor 3 Basing your budget at between 0.5 - 1% - you can then be flexible in terms what items to visualise from the project for most effect Factor 4 Paying a bit more upfront in order to have better quality imagery, most likely will create a higher appeal in purchasers than something that costs far less but doesn’t look as good Factor 5 Sales of property is highly visual and since the building hasn’t been built yet, the value of high quality imagery is far greater than its cost as it effectively communicates what the development will look like

Case Study Some time ago we were engaged to assist on marketing imagery for a 135 apartment project that had some imagery put together by a marketing company from Vietnam, whilst the developer was Melbourne based. He originally decided to use them because they were at least twice as cheap as local high quality providers. And whilst the start of the relationship was good with that company, during the process of putting together the marketing materials - unfortunately the communication broke down © Eagle Vision Property 2012

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and the client was left with a dysfunctional website, unfinished 3d visuals and a bunch of unfinished graphic design materials. It was like trying to put on a band-aid and to glue together pieces of a broken chair. Our partners completed the website to functionality, and we patched up the 3d images of the project. Overall though, it could be seen that the visuals did not come up to the level of quality that we normally produce as we only had unfinished images to try and patch up in Photoshop. This was a glaring lesson where a cheap provider cost a lot more than if it was a local high quality artist impressions provider.

“You often get what you pay for and it’s never more true than in marketing development projects.”

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Insight 6: Present a Complete Picture Launch all marketing collateral at once When launching a project - one of the most important keys is that all marketing collateral, including website, real estate advertising and other graphics should be launched at once. When the online campaign is presented, the billboards and print brochures must be ready for the real estate agents to work with. At the same time the website must be up and running to ensure that the prospective purchasers doing research on the development arrive at their expected destination rather than stumbling a work in progress. In this world of instant gratification, if we don’t deliver 100% then doubt about the development instantly creeps in and loss of professional comprehensive presentation can cost the developer dearly in lost sales. • Collate and present all the material at once • Online campaign must be launched simultaneously with print and offline marketing channels • Create a consistent message that the development is high quality through professional presentation • Purchasers doing research on the project must arrive at their expected destination when typing in the project’s URL • Small errors can cause thousands of dollars of lost revenue in lost sales

The 5 Reasons Why Presenting a “Full Picture” of the Project is Vital Reason 1 All marketing hits the ground at once Reason 2 Consistent and comprehensive picture of the development presents professionalism to the purchasers Reason 3 Not having the development presented in a complete picture leaves unanswered questions in purchasers minds leading to lost sales Reason 4 Creative website presentation needs to be tested and ensured at all the links work

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Reason 5 Launch offline campaign when online marketing is active then the multiplier effect comes in

Case Study In the earlier discussed project in West Footscray - the client was a very experienced marketing agent. So along with all the online marketing channels that were utilized, all the team members of the marketing team had their email signatures improved by adding a banner about the development which was linked to the dedicated website for the project. This created a highly professional presentation for the development and within two weeks of launching the development, already 3 sales contracts were secured because the prospective purchasers were presented with a complete picture of the development.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Launching a project with a complete picture is like eating a delicious cake with all the ingredients blending together to create the unforgettable experienceâ&#x20AC;?

ÂŠ Eagle Vision Property 2012

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Insight 7: Work with an Expert How working with an expert prevents costly mistakes and saves your time! Working with experts makes marketing projects enjoyable. There are less headaches, less wasted time explaining simple concepts, and ultimately leading to higher quality visuals that help sell the development more effectively. There are already enough complexities in development and if one of the vast complex areas is taken care of by experts, which is one the most important areas of creating the marketing tools for selling the project - then that just creates an easier path forward. Our direct background in marketing development sites gives us a unique advantage of being able to guide and help our clients to create effective marketing to position the development from a real world experience. • Work with an expert to save time and increase profits • Rely on the experience of the visual marketing strategists to deliver high quality results • We use our unique experience in marketing development sites to guide our clients in the creation of imagery • Enjoy the process of property development rather than deal with extra headaches

The 3 Keys to Determining an Expert Provider Key 1 Check references and examples provided Key 2 Understand their process and workflow Key 3 Question how they deal with challenges which inevitably come up

Case Study Recently we were approached about putting together a set of marketing images for a medium size townhouse development. Unfortunately these clients have had a stream of apparent ‘bad luck’. It took them 3 years to attain a reasonably straightforward permit of 6 town houses. © Eagle Vision Property 2012

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However upon further investigation it became quite apparent that even this permit is not worth the paper the drawings were printed on. There were mistakes all over the drawings, numbers that did not correlate and yet these plans were approved by a local authority who obviously didn’t check the finer details. Our feedback on this project was that they were not ready and would find a hard time selling these units off the plan as the layout of interiors was very poor. These townhouses were primarily aimed at owner occupiers and would be priced around $800,000 each. At this level, the purchasers are quite discerning and expect to see high quality in everything. And since the development was already behind the “8 ball” with poor quality architectural drawings, regardless of how well polished the marketing imagery became - the estate agents still would struggle mightily to sell the units.

“Working with an expert is like driving an expensive European car - everything works smoothly at high quality”

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Next Steps Congratulations for making it this far and I just wanted to thank you again for investing your time and energy into this guide and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m certain you will get value if you implement the insights as discussed. Having now been exposed to these principles of effective management of creating 3D Marketing Campaign for your development project - what things would you do differently next time around? How successful was your last campaign and what could have been done better? As a way to also thank you for taking the time to go through this guide, we wanted to offer you a 3D Strategy Audit session (Valued at $490) to receive a tailored analysis report on your marketing strategies and how to improve them. To learn about the 3D Strategy Audit - click here or type the address below in your browser: http://eagleproperty.com.au/3D-marketing-strategy-audit/ Alternatively if you would like to get in touch with us with any questions: Phone: 1300 208 177 Email: projects@eagleproperty.com.au Facebook: facebook.com/EagleVisionProperty LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/eagleproperty Twitter: twitter.com/EagleVisionProp To your development success, Warmly,

Stan Zaslavsky BEng (Honours)/BTech (Ind Design), Licensed Estate Agent Marketing Director

ÂŠ Eagle Vision Property 2012

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