Urban North.
Embrace everything Barrie has to offer.
Embrace everything Barrie has to offer.
An ambitious development of 850 townhomes next to Barrie South GO Station.
There were 2 major challenges to overcome in order to make this project successful: the real estate market slowing down in 2017-18, and the fact that the community is located 90 minutes north from Toronto.
Our research pointed that:
- The average first-time buyer in Toronto is 37 years-old. This means Gen Xers and Millennials, who love urban living, aren't able to afford even a small condo unit in the region. They might need to consider options further north.
- The target should be people willing to trade time for space. Highway 400 and the GO train both offer easy access to GTA.
- Absorption rate in the region pointed a minimum of 3 years to sell out all units.
- The average first-time buyer in Toronto is 37 years-old. This means Gen Xers and Millennials, who love urban living, aren't able to afford even a small condo unit in the region. They might need to consider options further north.
- The target should be people willing to trade time for space. Highway 400 and the GO train both offer easy access to GTA.
- Absorption rate in the region pointed a minimum of 3 years to sell out all units.
Insight:
Focus on urban young buyers looking for affordable options and convince them to move out of Toronto. But, if they don't buy into Barrie, they won't buy a home there. Make Barrie the star, and "package" the city in a millennial way.
Focus on urban young buyers looking for affordable options and convince them to move out of Toronto. But, if they don't buy into Barrie, they won't buy a home there. Make Barrie the star, and "package" the city in a millennial way.
Concept: Urban North. Embrace Your Space.
- Going north normally means embracing Canada's nature. But the name Urban North states that there is more outside the GTA than the outdoors.
- The campaign should mix modern and rustic, celebrate free-spirit and real-life instant gratification, promote discovery, adventure, exploration and joy.
- The campaign focused on presenting Barrie as a viable option, full of vibrant amenities. It’s a city where you can embrace everything you love and appreciate independence and your own space.
- Going north normally means embracing Canada's nature. But the name Urban North states that there is more outside the GTA than the outdoors.
- The campaign should mix modern and rustic, celebrate free-spirit and real-life instant gratification, promote discovery, adventure, exploration and joy.
- The campaign focused on presenting Barrie as a viable option, full of vibrant amenities. It’s a city where you can embrace everything you love and appreciate independence and your own space.
Digital ads, print ads, billboards all creating awareness and consideration for the project,
leading to a visually engaging registration page and microsite.
We then nurtured registrants with e-blasts presenting Barrie's attractions through webisodes inspired by hipster/amateur tourism vlogs. These videos were then released as sponsored ads on Facebook and Instagram to generate new leads.
Radio spots brought a more humorous approach about Millennial problems such as commute in GTA,
living with parents or a surprise pregnancy.
living with parents or a surprise pregnancy.
The Presentation Centre summarizes what the development stands for: freedom of expression, adventure, positive energy and pursuit of happiness, blending nature-inspired elements with a vibrant industrial style.
Results:
- This young, hipster, laser-focused campaign costed less than a single unit in the development, including creative, production and media costs.
- As intended, only 10% of conversions come from Barrie, and the majority of the 4,000+ registrants live closer to Toronto.
- Digital ads with an average 450,000 impressions, 7,000 clicks and 307 conversions per month since October 2017.
- 55 homes sold in a pre-sales test event and 200+ homes sold in 2 months after the Grand Opening event.
- This young, hipster, laser-focused campaign costed less than a single unit in the development, including creative, production and media costs.
- As intended, only 10% of conversions come from Barrie, and the majority of the 4,000+ registrants live closer to Toronto.
- Digital ads with an average 450,000 impressions, 7,000 clicks and 307 conversions per month since October 2017.
- 55 homes sold in a pre-sales test event and 200+ homes sold in 2 months after the Grand Opening event.
AGENCY: NGEN
CLIENT: Pace Developments
YEAR: 2017-2018
STRATEGY: Joe Grasso, Victor Schmidlin, Tania Sharma
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Victor Schmidlin
ART DIRECTION: Victor Schmidlin, Laura Miller, Tamara Buki, Gildie Nazari
COPYWRITERS: David Wray, Alexandra Tremblay
CLIENT: Pace Developments
YEAR: 2017-2018
STRATEGY: Joe Grasso, Victor Schmidlin, Tania Sharma
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Victor Schmidlin
ART DIRECTION: Victor Schmidlin, Laura Miller, Tamara Buki, Gildie Nazari
COPYWRITERS: David Wray, Alexandra Tremblay
Urban North. $41/day Campaign.
For Phase 3, a retail campaign was created to tackle Millennial realities.
After creating an interesting payment structure where buyers can spread their deposit over 18 months, which helped the success of Phases 1 and 2, Phase 3 needed a new point of view to refresh the campaign with an original angle that could make Millennials consider the product.
The new insight emerged from a common complaint among the youth - they state they will never be able to buy a home because of the market prices, some even focus on blaming the previous generations for causing that. One thing they forget: all homebuyers in the age group that comprises Baby Boomers or Gen Xers had to make sacrifices to attain the dream of homeownership. They had to move further away and cut superfluous expenses. And this campaign brought the concept to light in a very educative and uplifting way.
One challenge that first-time buyers normally face is the fact that saving for a down-payment is really hard. But, the moment you have the right amount for a deposit, then it gets easier, as the mortgage monthly payments of a townhome at Urban North are actually less than renting in the GTA.
Results:
This short, laser-focused campaign was flighted during the months of August and September to launch Phase 3 of Urban North and was right-on-point towards first-time buyer realities, which was decisive to help to sell out all available lots.
- Print ads were published in The London Publishing Newspaper (The Times, King Weekly News, Caledon Citizen and The Auroran) and On the Go Magazine, reaching 375k potential readers.
- On The Go videos at The Path System and other Newsstand Screens across the GTA, reaching approximately 125k impressions a day.
- Google Ads generated 2.55M impressions and 7.5K clicks.
- The website and landing pages, together, accumulated 10K visitors and generated 750 new leads.
- 8.5K e-blasts were deployed, with an impressive open rate of 38%.
- 136 units sold during the period and 40 additional sales happened in October as a collateral effect, selling out all Phase 3 lots in less than 3 months.
- PACE Developments ranked first in Sales in Ontario during the two months of the campaign.
- On The Go videos at The Path System and other Newsstand Screens across the GTA, reaching approximately 125k impressions a day.
- Google Ads generated 2.55M impressions and 7.5K clicks.
- The website and landing pages, together, accumulated 10K visitors and generated 750 new leads.
- 8.5K e-blasts were deployed, with an impressive open rate of 38%.
- 136 units sold during the period and 40 additional sales happened in October as a collateral effect, selling out all Phase 3 lots in less than 3 months.
- PACE Developments ranked first in Sales in Ontario during the two months of the campaign.
Also, during the entire year of 2019, Urban North accumulated outstanding results:
- Website: Total of 220k visits from 155k users.
- 11.8k leads generated - as per strategic plan, 80% of registrants reside in the GTA, and 20% a bonus from the Barrie region.
- Google AdWords (Search and Display ads) generating 145K clicks and 8.38K registrations.
- More than 10,000+ visitors to the sales centre and closing ratio of 19.8%
- Top-selling community in Ontario between May to September 2019.
- Pace Developments ranked fourth in sales in 2019 Trimart Report.
- 11.8k leads generated - as per strategic plan, 80% of registrants reside in the GTA, and 20% a bonus from the Barrie region.
- Google AdWords (Search and Display ads) generating 145K clicks and 8.38K registrations.
- More than 10,000+ visitors to the sales centre and closing ratio of 19.8%
- Top-selling community in Ontario between May to September 2019.
- Pace Developments ranked fourth in sales in 2019 Trimart Report.
AGENCY: NGEN
CLIENT: Pace Developments
YEAR: 2019
STRATEGY: Victor Schmidlin
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Victor Schmidlin
ART DIRECTION: Victor Schmidlin, Carreras Lou
COPYWRITERS: David Wray
CLIENT: Pace Developments
YEAR: 2019
STRATEGY: Victor Schmidlin
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Victor Schmidlin
ART DIRECTION: Victor Schmidlin, Carreras Lou
COPYWRITERS: David Wray