Summary
#OurCityOurHome Magicbricks choose to enter the thriving Lucknow market and revolutionize real estate transactions in an offline-dependent city. Using evocative long format narrative, we educated residents of new age methods of property transactions and creating emotional appeal across stakeholders. The localized content resonated strongly with audiences, forging an emotional connection. The film garnered 4.3Mn views and 88% view through rate, contributing to the campaign's exceptional success, marked by a notable 42% surge in revenue.
Challenge
In the aftermath of the pandemic, a seismic shift in housing preferences became the catalyst for a captivating narrative in Indian real estate. As the spotlight turned to capacious hometown properties, Magicbricks, the trailblazer in real estate exploration, set its sight on tier 2 towns amongst which Lucknow emerged as a pivotal market witnessing a significant surge in residential demand (in 2021). This was an opportune time for Magicbricks to initiate the digitalization of real estate in Lucknow, a market where traditionally offline channels and personal networks facilitated real estate transactions. In an industry-first initiative, the #OurCityOurHome campaign aims to solidify Magicbricks' position in the market as a category leader and foster a transformative shift in user behaviour in the home search journey.
Objective
The objectives were threefold: firstly, educate stakeholders on the seamless transition to online transactions; secondly, expand property listings to meet evolving demands; and thirdly, establish a profound emotional connection with consumers, thus cementing Magicbricks position as the ultimate partner for customers embarking on the journey to find their dream home in the city. Concurrently, the overarching goal was to boost revenue share and drive business growth for Magicbricks in Lucknow market.
Strategy
The bespoke campaign, #OurCityOurHome aimed to spotlight Magicbricks' intrinsic understanding of Lucknow's essence and catalyze a mindset change in the city's real estate dynamics. In a market traditionally dominated by offline channels and personal networks for property transactions, this initiative became a beacon for change. The overarching strategy involved crafting a compelling narrative that deeply resonated with homebuyers and investors, showcasing the growth potential of the city of Lucknow while reiterating Magicbricks' deep understanding of its evolution. An evocative long format digital film served as the cornerstone of the campaign, offering a visual journey through Lucknow's evolution, diverse cultures, culinary treasures, and burgeoning lifestyles. The film evoked a sense of belonging and familiarity for potential buyers, establishing an emotional connection to the city and its real estate opportunities. This digital film which utilised a storytelling approach became the masthead of our omni- channel campaign. Educating the city residents while igniting aspirational sentiments were fundamental elements of our strategy, which were bought to life through this compelling video narrative. The nuanced storyline positioned Magicbricks as the ideal home search partner for customers and elevating transactional engagement with our valued trade partners.
Data
Since the pandemic, there was an evident change in work patterns and home preferences, and growing interest from millennials to invest in spacious homes, especially in their hometowns. We harnessed our Research capabilities to unveil multiple reports which shared detailed insights about customer preferences, growing residential supply, locality hotspots and pricing trends. - Our report India's Tier 2 cities highlighted the emergence of Tier 2 cities as Real Estate Growth Engines, witnessing high YoY growth for residential demand in 2022. - Lucknow with a 20% surge in residential demand, emerged as a real estate hotspot in 2021. - In Lucknow, about 42% of home seekers are looking for 3 BHK units, indicating a preference for larger homes, closely followed by 2 BHK accounting for 41% Further as per external reports as well, there were increasing investments from developers, new project launches and growing interest from homebuyers, reflecting in the property price appreciation to the tune of 25-50% (as per Realty+), that Lucknow was witnessing. Additionally, the expansion of both Indian and multination companies in these areas, supported by government initiatives like AMRUT and the Smart Cities Mission, propelled residential demand in these cities. Backed by Research data insights and macro-economic dynamics, it was evident that boom cities- tier 2 and tier 3 towns were growth engines for real estate. Magicbricks recognized this emerging opportunity, identified Lucknow as a key market and became one of the first real estate platforms to actively - Give a strategic push in the city and expanded property listings - Educate property stakeholders about the online paradigm - Launch a bespoke marketing campaign to instil confidence in the new way of home search
Solution
Harnessing the power of AV and adopting a storytelling approach, the long format visual narrative was crafted to showcase Lucknow's real estate potential, while immersing the audience in the city's unique charm and lifestyle. Seamless never before used transitions and reflective aerial drone shots made the City of Nawabs come alive on screen! Recognizing the diversity inherent in each Indian city, our strategy was founded on the premise that each city possesses distinct customs, languages, and flavours, laying the groundwork for the city-specific bespoke narrative, uniquely tailored for Lucknow. To capture the essence of the city, we delved into granular insights, capturing the sights, sounds, language, and culinary treasures that make the city truly exceptional. The film featured much more than popular tourist spots, exploring the places and things that are an intrinsic part of the city's lifestyle. We engaged local city enthusiast as guides and content contributors to capture nuances true to Lucknow's spirit. Our goal was to create a heartfelt tribute for the city of Lucknow while showcasing the growth potential of the city and Magicbricks' evolving along with the city to become a preferred partner for home search.
Results
The impact of the campaign in Lucknow was truly profound, resulting in an astonishing 42% increase in revenue. The film captivated a substantial audience with over 4.3 million views across platforms! • The long format video of 70 secs saw an impressive 88% view through rate • Platform reports showed that the video garnered 1.7 million views and 5.2 million impressions on YouTube. • Influencers played a crucial role, contributing to the campaign's success. We used a mix of macro and micro-influencers including local pages and content creators, receiving 2.4 Mn views and 125K+ engagement on the video. Beyond viewership metrics, the video played a pivotal role in triggering curiosity and the adoption of a new-age method for home search and property transactions among city residents. The campaign resulted in a substantial increase in new users (27%) and sessions (22%) QoQ, accompanied by a remarkable 31% increase in organic traffic to the city homepage, according to Google Analytics. The surge in active property listings, marked by 9% growth over the previous quarter, played a crucial role in meeting the rising demand in Lucknow's real estate landscape. Leading publications of Lucknow celebrated our insights, and the initiative was covered in leading publications including Dainik Bhaskar and Aaj, amongst others. The campaign was also featured by 20+ national marketing publications such as E4M, Mint, Financial Express and Adgully and delivering PR value of Rs 9.6 Mn. Overall, the video was successful in achieving emotional resonance with home seekers, helping establish Magicbricks as a trusted partner in the journey to find their dream home.
