Areizaga Repositioning.

Selling homes in the city with the most expensive square meter in Spain is like selling films in Hollywood, jewelry in Madrid or design in Barcelona. Not easy. In San Sebastián, Areizaga was a shy leader (largest market share and stock). Shy, because Donostia’s real estate scene is an undifferentiated market with many players (more than 103 competitors), all with very small shares. The brand was turning 60 and going through an internal generational handover. A fantastic moment to reposition, find a new tone and activate a plan to grow market share and stock, segmenting by city zones. The only thing that didn’t look good was the economic context: home sales were trending down.

Against this backdrop we began the work of identifying the strategic keys. Getting the market to understand the concept of “value” rather than price. Stimulating the emotional bond. And positioning them clearly as highly qualified sellers, grounded in factual arguments and data. We designed the strategy and created a story to define the brand’s new position, connect it and differentiate it in consumers’ minds.

In that story we argued that in the alphabet of life, family, home and work are the first three letters. And perhaps home comes first. Because it conditions everything else. Where you live has a huge influence on what your life will be like. That’s why, in the alphabet of places in this country to build a life, Donosti isn’t the D, or the C, or the B. It’s the A. And not because it’s the city with the most expensive housing. But because it’s the city where lifestyle is worth the most. All it takes is someone making it a little easier to have a home or a business here. It’s not simple, because it’s priceless. And that’s something you have to understand.

A new era for the brand that kicked off with a media plan for which we proposed heavy out-of-home, digital, audiovisual, radio and a WOW action to generate viral buzz.

The campaign captured an extraordinary share of awareness, fueled by the ongoing debate over housing prices. There were even those who, in their attempt to protest housing prices before the institutions, used our campaign to create messages of their own. A sign that we had managed to lead the conversation.

We crowned the campaign with a Hero action chasing two goals: going viral and leading the conversation. So instead of placing the typical classified ads on a newspaper page saying how far away the beach is, we wrote the ads on the beach and said how far away the apartment was.

Results are often hard to identify or put into context. This time, it couldn’t have been more synthetic or more thrilling. We received a text message from the client saying that thanks to the campaign, the brand was at record market share and housing stock. In short: when the results square, the plan has come out round.