House Network, which claims to be the UK’s first online estate agency, has launched a new advertising campaign in which it promises that its agents will ride naked on a unicycle to the homes of clients it disappoints and give them their money back.
The campaign, called “Sworn to sell”, and produced by Minimart, depicts a motivational talk at House Network’s headquarters.
It is already airing on the ITV network, using “regional primetime bursts”.
To the strains of stirring music, the advert begins with a manager reeling off a list of commitments that House Network will make to its customers, to the cheers of the surrounding staff.
Among them are pledges to: get every new home on the market within 24 hours; to “personally vet” every home viewer; to share a minimum of 25 professional photos; to have “actual people” on the phones 24/7; to give each client a dedicated customer relationship manager; an urgent call-back within an hour if requested; and a promise for agents to take their shoes off before entering a customer’s house.
The manager then rounds off his list by declaring: “And if we ever fail our clients, on any of these points, we will ride to their house, on a unicycle, naked, and give them their money back.”
While the other pledges are intended to be taken seriously by would-be House Network customers, the final one presumably isn’t.
The screen at the end of the advert declares: “Sell your home for just £795”, however there is also a disclaimer at the bottom of the screen during the second half of the advert, which reads: “Accompanied viewings cost extra. Flat-fee payable regardless of sale.”
House Network chief executive Mark Readings said: “This new campaign marks the launch of our 20-point customer promise.
“We have achieved a 97.1% rating, over a 14-year period, from clients who say that they will recommend House Network.
“So we wanted to put down on one piece of paper the reasons why people love selling their houses through us.
“From the day we started the firm we realised that customer service is everything, which is why we will always honour the promises we make to our customers and give them the services they are looking for.”
Tim Clyde, founding partner of Minimart, said: “We are all now pretty aware of being able to save money by using online estate agents, but many home sellers stick with the traditional high street option because they are concerned that the online model lacks the all-important human customer service.
“House Network has for many years excelled at customer service and this is what we wanted the executions to bring to life.
“We even decided to feature some of the real staff in the films to make the campaign as genuine as possible.
“The new strap line ‘Sworn to Sell’ has also been introduced which reflects the commitment they are making to sell houses in the right way.”
EYE has asked House Network how much the campaign cost to produce and is awaiting a response.
What a superb advert – well done everyone!
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Be interesting if they included ‘We will complete the sale on your house’ in their list of promises.
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No agent can promise that.
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No Agent CAN – but a good many DO…
…if Trustpilot reviews can be believed, that is.
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I like it!
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Time to sell shares in OTM and buy Halfords as I am sure their unicycle sales will increase!
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It will appeal to the great unwashed but quite clearly several of even the few promises listed above cannot always be met, or are at times inappropriate, or have limited value …. such as a generic call centre operator answering the phone at 3 AM to say ‘OK I will send a transcript of our conversation by email to the estate agents admin desk to be looked at in the morning’. Likewise an average vendor in an average home might like ‘shoes off’ but for many properties that is daft or even a health risk to the staff member. ‘Personally vet’ viewers is an odd promise. An amusing ad and it will doubtless work, appealling to the slightly naiive …. an audience which some agents might be very keen to capture!
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At least they have been relatively up front on their fee structure!
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At least it will guarantee no complaints, given the visual punishment if you do.
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Fee disclaimer visible for eight seconds on a sixty-second advert?
Hardly ‘Bold, Precise and Compelling’ I would argue…
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If you look at their reviews on AllAgents they have several 1 star reviews, some not happy bunny’s at all! Better get peddling! Also a minimum of 25 professional photos on every property?? That could be interesting on a studio flat; maybe have to add a few selfies to comply with their own rule?
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‘We will ride to their house, on a unicycle, naked, and give them their money back’.
Oooh that’s well dodgy. Right up there with the poor soul who got done for telling a snowflake mortgage advisor she’d give him a b-j if he hit target.
‘So, Mr Manager, you are saying I might have to get naked and ride a unicycle are you? Oooooh, I am SO offended. My human rights have been infringed and I feel SO upset by your threat – which is laden with sexual innuendo and a definite breach of health and safety rules. Now, how much are you going to pay me to make this all go away?????’
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