Dubai has seen a splurge in outdoor advertising of late with massive LED billboards at key locations. Real estate ad spend, which was mostly concentrated on the print medium has also vastly diversified with digital and social mediums taking centre stage. But outdoor media campaigns that need a multimillion-dirham ad spend are usually possible for big names in the realty sector. Now a real estate brokerage firm has taken upon the task to bring outdoor advertisement within the realms of small and medium developers.
Plus Brokerage, which launched its first set of outdoor media campaigns last month across key locations in Dubai says it plans to roll out more such campaigns thereby changing the dynamics and make it affordable for small and medium developers. The firm has entered into a long term agreement with media firms managing outdoor digital space, enabling it to offer the same to its clientele. Ben Bandari, Managing Director of Plus Brokerage Real Estate Firm says the strategy is to offer the medium almost for free and charge clients the usual commission upon sales.
“We approach developers who want to expose their projects but do not have the budget. We give them the exposure and do their marketing.” says Bandari.
The business model is based on tying up with a developer, either exclusively and charging lower commissions in return or as a non exclusive broker but with a higher percentage. “In both cases the developer only needs to pay us commissions upon sale. We use our strategic tie ups to give exposure to these properties on outdoor digital space,” he adds.
The initiative, according to Bandari is bound to change the dynamics within the real estate ad segment and give the much needed level playing field for small and medium developers. “Currently small players are simply not able to afford the cost of outdoor advertising. A campaign on one set of lamp posts for a month can cost them anywhere between Dhs3 to 4 million,” he explains.
“Our campaigns are placed at strategic locations such as on Palm Jumeirah, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai Marina and parts of Bur Dubai and Deira,” says Bandari. In fact the firm used to run a campaign on Al Ittihad road in Deira but is now shifting it to Baniyas road, right in front of the Land Department. “The idea is to reach out to the target audience as much as possible.”
Referring to a recent lead Bandari says, “A UAE national from Abu Dhabi was driving down Sheikh Zayed Road for a meeting. But upon seeing our ads he not only called up and enquired about the project, but also visited the property, expressing his interest to buy. That is the power of outdoor digital advertising,” he says.
