Best black and white ad–master plan
When a builder wants to emphasize its on-site amenities, the typical approach is to use images of people who look like the customer. For SummerGrove, Pathway Communities opted to turn that around and take the people out of the picture completely. Three ads featured golf, tennis, and the community’s lake (all shot on site), with the models digitally removed.
The goal of the ads was to convince buyers to travel a little out of the way to a community located out of the main corridors in the Atlanta market, which is saturated with master planned communities. With the campaign tagline of “All that’s missing is you,” the ads dramatically told prospects that SummerGrove had everything a neighborhood needs–but that it wasn’t complete without them.
“The goal for the ad was to cause people to imagine themselves in that environment,” says Joe Snowden, president of McRae Communications, which created the ads. “It really resonated that.”
The ad campaign carried over in the sales center with adult- and child-sized cardboard cut-outs in which visitors could be photographed. That element of the campaign generated media coverage in community newspapers.
The technological challenges of the campaign centered on recreating the portions of the photographs that were originally hidden behind the models’ bodies, such as the backs of their collars and hats and the neck straps of sunglasses.
“If it weren’t really well executed, it would look really cheesy,” Snowden says. “The laughing stock potential was pretty high.”
Builder: Pathway Communities, Peachtree City, Ga.; Ad agency: McRae Communications, Fayetteville, Ga.
Best color ad–master plan
When a community has as cool an amenity as an observatory, it makes all the sense in the world to market it in a visually striking way.
“This is such a unique thing, no one can repeat it,” says Jennifer Lambert, marketing director for Village Homes of Colorado. Designed to appeal to a “thrill-seeking prospect,” the campaign makes use of classic film poster imagery, monochromatic backgrounds, and copy that harkens back to the movie trailers of the 1950s.
“It stands out compared with standard new-home ads,” Lambert says. “It pushes the envelope in the advertising realm.”
A follow-up to teaser ads before the community opened, this series promoted the amenities that Villages Homes had promised would be part of Observatory Village.
“There was a lot of name recognition to the community before the ad ran,” Lambert says. “This solidified what we were saying all along, that we would stand firm to have those things in the community sooner rather than later.”
Builder: Village Homes of Colorado, Littleton, Colo.; Ad agency: Lance Jackson & Associates, Denver
Best sales office–under 600 square feet
Small sales centers all face the same challenge–making the space usable without feeling cramped. It’s even more important in a neighborhood a stone’s throw from the ocean. The last thing people want is to feel boxed in.
“When people feel crowded, they want to get out of there,” says Mary Fitzgerald, marketing manager for John Laing Homes’ South Coast division.
To help reduce the clutter and open up floor space that would make the room feel more spacious, the site plan was taken off the floor and put on the wall. It’s a tool that John Laing uses in its sales centers whenever possible to make it easier to walk around. The center of the office has bifold doors so that it can be easily accessed by home counselors in closing offices on either side.
“It’s a real space saver, and it was instrumental in this sales office because of the size,” Fitzgerald says.
Vintage oars, fishing poles, and tropical items hang on the walls to give the office a unique, “beachy” feel. Bamboo-framed floor plans are displayed on leather cording. The use of corrugated metal on the walls and the front desk added a “little bit of neat, rustic charm,” Fitzgerald says.
“It gave it some character and made it feel like it had been there for a while,” she says.
Builder: John Laing Homes, Irvine, Calif.; Architect: Dahlin Group, San Ramon, Calif.; Interior design: Design Tech, Newport Beach, Calif.; Sales office design: Austin Johnson Design, Rancho Santa Marguerita, Calif.
Best sales pavilion or information center (tie)
The goals of the Irvine Community Development Co. in creating the Homefinding Center were myriad. First was to get the center out of an outdated modular building and into a more upscale, convenient location. Second was to provide a “Nordstrom-style” service experience that created a high comfort level for visitors. Third, of course, was to provide a high level of information about the multiple communities the company owns.
The end product was the Homefinding Center, a 2,022-square-foot information pavilion located in Irvine Spectrum, a popular shopping and entertainment complex convenient to several major highways. Traffic at the center averages in excess of 300 visitors per week.
The pavilion’s layout and features virtually force visitors to interact with the center’s staff, says sales center designer John Burrows.
“The whole thing was set up so people almost have to talk to the hostesses,” he says. “The Irvine Co. had it [mystery] shopped over a number of years, and the comment that came back a number of times was that [customers most liked] the service. She [the hostess] hands you a tour guide of houses in your price range.”
The center fits in well with the other retail stores in the complex, with oversized travel center-inspired posters and boutique-style entry doors. Forgoing the standard topographical model, it features a 12-foot-by-6-foot lighted aerial map mounted on the wall. Flat-screen computers give visitors access to DVDs on a host of topics, and another display table features computers with more in-depth information on builders and neighborhoods.
“I’m glad they did upscale,” Burrows says. “I’m tired of doing ranch-like, homey centers. They wanted it to be more retail and contemporary.”
Builder: Irvine Community Development Co., Newport Beach, Calif.; Architect: Robinson Hill Associates, Costa Mesa, Calif.; Interior design: Burrows Design, Corona del Mar, Calif.; Sales office design: LJG Partners/TAG Displays/Outdoor Dimensions, San Diego
Builder: C.P. Morgan, Indianapolis
Ad agency: Milesbrand, Denver
Builder: Criswell Radovan, Calistoga
Ad agency: InterCommunications, Newport Beach, Calif.
Builder: Newhall Land Co., Valencia
Ad agency: The Weston Group, Los Angeles
Builder: Beazer Homes Orlando division, Orlando, Fla.
Ad agency: Metropolis Advertising and Design, Orlando
Builder: Legacy Property Group, Atlanta
Ad agency: Marketing Results, Atlanta
Ad agency: Milesbrand, Denver
Ad agency: Martin Stevers, San Diego
Developer: The Pinehills LLC, Plymouth
Ad agency: Strada Advertising, Denver
Ad agency: Gauger + Santy, San Francisco
Builder: WCI Communities, Bonita Springs, Fla.
Ad agency: WCI Communities, Bonita Springs
Builder: The Olson Co., Seal Beach
Ad agency: Hayes Martin Associates, Newport Beach, Calif.
Builder: Western Pacific Housing, El Segundo, Calif.
Web site design: The Weston Group, Los Angeles
Web site design: The Roxburgh Agency, Costa Mesa, Calif.
Builder: Shea Homes, Walnut, Calif.
Architect: Williams + Paddon, Roseville, Calif.
Interior design/Sales office design: Design Lines, Englewood, Colo.
Builder: Linthicum Constructors, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Architect: John Mahoney, Tempe
Interior design: McCarthy Nordburg, Phoenix
Builder: The Boulders at Sonoma Ranch LLC, Las Cruces
Interior design: Possibilities for Design, Denver
Builder: Pulte Homes, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
Interior design: Taylor Roberts, Philo, Calif.
Builder: Pardee Homes, Los Angeles
Interior design: Color Design Art, Pacific Palisades, Calif.
Builder: Albanese/Popkin, The Oaks Development Group, Boca Raton
Interior design: Rogers Design Group, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Builder: Warmington Homes, Costa Mesa, Calif.
Interior design: Karen Butera Inc., Corona Del Mar, Calif.
Builder: The Boulders at Sonoma Ranch LLC, Las Cruces
Architect: Iverson Associates, Costa Mesa, Calif.
Builder: Baywood Development/Barratt American, Carlsbad, Calif.
Architect: Scheurer Architects, Newport Beach, Calif.
Builder/Architect: ASW Realty Partners, Santa Fe
Builder: Barratt American, Carlsbad, Calif.
Architect: Starck Architecture, San Diego
Builder: Warmington Homes, Costa Mesa, Calif.
Architect: Daniellian Associates, Irvine, Calif.
Builder: WCI Communities, Bonita Springs
Architect: Swedroe & Associates, Miami
Builder: Christopher Homes, Las Vegas
Architect: Scheurer Architects, Newport Beach, Calif.
Builder: Wood Partners/The Novare Group, Atlanta
Architect: Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart, Atlanta
Interior design: Model Residences, Atlanta
Sales center design: P3, Atlanta
Landscape design: Highgrove Partners, Smyrna, Ga.
Ad agency: Marketing Results, Atlanta
Wilson Angel, 5th Gear Advertising, Culver City, Calif.
Denise Dersin, BUILDER magazine, Washington
Tom Doucette, Doucette Homes, Tucson, Ariz.
George Freelove, MIRM, Richard Fuller Homes, Katy, Texas
Dan Green, The Green Cos., Newton Centre, Mass.
Kay Green, MIRM, Kay Green Design, Orlando, Fla.
Phil Hove, Hove Design Alliance, Newport Beach, Calif.
Rudy Kadlub, Costa Pacific Homes, Wilsonville, Ore.
Laura Lynn Reising, Petros Homes, Broadview Heights, Ohio
David Steinke, Infinity Homes, Greenwood Village, Colo.
Learn more about markets featured in this article: Denver, CO, San Diego, CA, Los Angeles, CA, Phoenix, AZ, Atlanta, GA, Orlando, FL.
