These types of sponsorships, combined with our television advertising during the Super Bowl, the Summer Olympics, The Belmont Stakes, The Preakness and the upcoming U.S. Open and Winter Olympics, definitely contribute to our brand’s ability to maintain its lead in aided brand awareness among consumers, a position it has held since 1999. And, this year, I’m thrilled to report that through an ad tracking study completed in 2012 by Millward Brown, a global market research firm, CENTURY 21 was identified by consumers as “the most respected real estate brand.” This was no surprise to us as CENTURY 21 is your trusted community real estate company. The difference today, however, is this trusted source is backed by the most powerful marketing and technology platform in the industry. For our brokers and franchise sales team who are having conversations with agents and companies evaluating their business prospects for the future, these are powerful statements that drive to the heart of our brand value proposition.
MP: How do you measure the success of your advertising campaigns?
RD: In 2012, we set out to redesign a website that would deliver value to consumers and to our System members. One of the major benefits of our national marketing and advertising initiatives has been an impressive increase in the number of visitors to century21.com. According to comScore, traffic to century21.com increased by 125 percent in the first quarter of 2013 versus the same period in 2012. From December 2012 through May 31, 2013, century21.com was the most visited national real estate franchise (and brokerage) website. The result of this increase in visitors is a 31 percent increase in leads generated to our sales professionals throughout the United States.
In addition, our brand awareness and preference among consumers are leading indicators that our marketing is working. The sheer volume of impressions that are generated through advertising and marketing initiatives is extraordinary. Did you know that over the last two years, the “CENTURY 21 Agent: Smarter. Bolder. Faster.®” campaign has been showcased in front of:
• The most watched program in American television history (Super Bowl XVI; source: NBC Sports)
• The most watched event ever in U.S. television history (2012 Summer Olympics in London; source: NBC Sports)
• The world’s largest single-day spectator sporting event (The Indy 500; source: Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
