Case Study: Century 21 and ngmoco’s We City NOVEMBER 14, 2011

Real estate agency uses social games to reach out to first-time homebuyers

Century 21 is a real estate franchise organization with over 8,000 offices and 120,000 employees in 73 countries and territories. The company and its social media and PR agency, Mullen, partnered with US mobile game publisher ngmoco and marketing firm appssavvy to embed the Century 21 brand in the game We City.

Challenge Century 21 specifically sought out a mobile game franchise due to the channel’s fast growth. In an interview with eMarketer, Matt Gentile, Century 21’s director of PR and social media, explained, “This was an opportunity for us to hit a sweet spot—not only with the next generation of homebuyers and sellers but through a medium that is rapidly becoming ubiquitous.”

We City appealed to Century 21 because it had a large user base of 15 million people at the time the campaign launched in April 2011. Further, the game’s core demographic of 25-to-44-year-olds aligned with Century 21’s target audience, which was primarily 25- to 34-year-old females and first-time homebuyers.

Strategy Century 21 served We City players a 30-second video ad. Users who viewed the entire clip were rewarded with virtual currency to use in the game. The initial campaign ran for about a month, during which all We City players saw a Century 21 welcome screen that invited them to embed one of three branded virtual structures: a skyscraper, a modern home or a real estate office.

Results Gentile considered the We City campaign a success because it raised the profile of the Century 21 brand among this important target audience. He cited some data points that validated the campaign, including:

● Players completed 300,000 views of Century 21-branded video.

● The Century 21 welcome screen received 5.4 million views.

● The virtual structures that players embedded stayed in the game

indefinitely after the activation period.

● In a post-campaign survey with appssavvy, Century 21 noted a positive

change of 40% in brand awareness.

“We were impressed by some of the metrics in terms of clickthrough rates and

interaction between the consumer and our ad,” said Gentile. “It’s a pretty compelling argument when you look at the ability to create an action with the consumer.”

Key Takeaways The most significant benefit for Century 21 was exposing its brand to potential home buyers in a meaningful and enduring way.

“Each time those players go into their game, they’re reminded that they have a Century 21 office there,” said Gentile. “In terms of appealing to the next generation of home buyers, sellers, agents and entrepreneurs, we felt like we hit a homerun.”

He went on to add that based on the success of the We City campaign, Century 21 is actively exploring other opportunities in the gaming space.

This Case Study also appeared in eMarketer’s October 2011 report, “Gaming for Marketers: Opportunities in Play.”

 

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