BIRTH OF A CONDO PART III: MARKETING
Birth of a Condo: Blade inspires some edgy marketing
February 6, 2010
Ryan Starr
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
In this five-part series, the Toronto Star follows the development of a highrise condominium – Blade in Brampton – from site selection through to the sales launch, offering an in-depth look at the logistical challenges and critical decisions that emerge along the way.
If you happen to be riding the GO train through Brampton at some point in the near future, don't be alarmed if you get a random message on your Blackberry or iPhone from Gerry Ryan.
It's part of what's known as "Bluetooth proximity marketing," a strategy Ryan's firm – Ryan Design Inc. – is hoping will generate buzz for Blade, a 26-storey highrise condo being built atop a defunct skate factory in Brampton.
The condo site and sales centre are across the road from a GO Transit station, and several years ago a large chunk of the factory property was sold to the transit authority to use as a parking lot.
To Ryan, all that daily commuter hustle and bustle right on Blade's doorstep represents a lucrative market "just waiting to be tapped."
With proximity marketing, every so often equipment set up in the condo's sales centre will send out a message to Bluetooth-enabled devices within a range of up to 600 feet.
The message will typically contain some kind of promotional offer – $2,000 in upgrades, for example – enticing potential buyers to drop by the sales centre and find out more. (Once the person opens the message, Ryan gets his or her contact information for use when sending out future offers.)
"We can market to you sitting on the train going by, and get messages out to people who are parked all around," Ryan said during a recent interview at his Toronto studio.
"We're not just waiting there for people to come and see us. We're getting out there."
When it came to the marketing of Blade, a development that blends historic and contemporary architecture, Ryan appreciated having a unique project to work with.
"The fact that we had the skate factory was nice," he says. "We could sell modern and old at the same time, condominiums and lofts. We didn't have to get locked into the clichéd marketing that often comes with just lofts."
The former Dominion Skate factory also provided a ready-made theme for the project.
"We didn't want to call it the Dominion Skate building, because that would imply the whole building was a loft," he explains. "I thought Blade would be a cool name for an old building with a new tower.''
The name proved to be a big hit with the project developer, the Preston Group.
"Sometimes you come up with something and the builder or salespeople don't like it, then there's a bit of a fight,'' Ryan says. "This one, I threw it on the table and it was like, `That's it!' And it was done.''
Ryan also hatched the idea for what has turned out to be Blade's big conversation piece: a skating rink in the courtyard that will convert to a walking track in summer.
"(Downtown) Brampton has Gage Park, which also has a skating rink," Ryan notes. "So it was great to be able to tie in with that."
Skating is the basis of the Blade logo: the silhouette of a figure skater. And the principal colour used in Blade's marketing materials and advertising is a turquoise blue, which helps to further evoke ice.
The skating motif has also figured prominently in Blade's ad copy. To wit:
"Brampton's hottest condo has the coolest amenities."
"Don't let this fabulous opportunity slip away."
"The perfect place to break the ice."
A number of other classy skating touches were on display during Blade's preview opening for registrants last fall: a reception desk with a glass front that resembled cracked ice; a cocktail bar made of actual ice; even a table with hockey stick legs.
Following her speech at the opening, Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell was presented with a pair of bob skates that had been manufactured at the Dominion Skate factory years ago (Blade publicist Danny Roth had found them on eBay).
"That was the icing on the cake," Ryan says.
The site's skate factory origins gave Roth, head of Brandon Communications, plenty to play with when it came to crafting the public relations campaign for Blade.
"For us it starts and ends with a story, and this project has a story,'' Roth says. "A PR guy goes crazy for something that has layers like an onion that you can peel off and talk about.''
A good story also helps set Blade apart in a crowded and savvy real estate market, he notes.
"There's so much product out there these days that you need to be able to find a way to position it differently, to look at it from a different perspective.''
Roth's job has been to take Blade's various layers and pitch the stories to editors at a range of publications (including the Star, which is currently running this five-part series).
Given the goal is to generate momentum and interest in Blade, a bit of good press never hurts.
"Buyers these days are taking a more critical eye toward product launches as well as claims from developers and advertising and marketing," Roth says. "I think they look to editorial, which they see as a more independent voice, for validation."
Getting stories prominent placement in the right mix of media can certainly create interest in a project. It also helps weed out unqualified purchasers from the get-go.
"You want to make sure you're driving the right purchaser to the sales centre," says Roth. "You're doing your best to educate them to make sure the ones coming through that door know what they're coming for.''
The marketing, sales and public relations strategies for Blade have been tightly coordinated, with everyone usually working from the same game plan.
"The most successful projects are the ones that put together the right team and demand that they not take a silo approach," says Roth.
It's also essential, Ryan says, that a marketing team doesn't end up creating a campaign that is more about its own gratification than selling a project.
"If all I'm doing is getting laurels for myself, thinking I created the greatest brochure in the world or the most elaborate sales office, then that's just wrong," he says. "Because I'm not thinking about the client (the developer) or buyer. I'm just thinking about me."
In the end, though, no matter how well a project like Blade is packaged and sold, regardless of how clever the name is or how cool the sales office looks, none of it matters much if the end product is sub-par.
"Even with all the hype, glamour and glitz that might come with (marketing a condo), at the core you're dealing with somebody who is buying a home," Roth says.
"People won't buy something they don't like," adds Ryan. "As a marketing person, you have to target the guy who's going to live there.
"Of course," he says after a brief pause, "anything will sell if it's the right price."
Catch up on the series so far:
Part One: Site Selection
Part Two: Hanging on to heritage elements
Toronto Star