Schwarzenegger fronts new ‘Australia lives here’ campaign for realestate.com.au via BWM Melb

realestate.com.au has unveiled a new national brand campaign via BWM Melbourne, starring Hollywood film icon, former governor of California and Austria’s favourite son, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The first spots have released in a series of seven television commercials set to air over the coming weeks.

VIEW THE FIRST SPOT

VIEW THE SECOND SPOT

VIEW THE FIRST DYLAN VIDEO

VIEW THE SECOND DYLAN VIDEO

In an Australian media first, realestate.com.au launched the campaign using a unique high-impact approach, commandeering all free to air and subscription Australian commercial television and major digital advertising networks simultaneously. Capitalising on the 6:20pm time slot, a time when many Australians are watching television while using a digital device1, the strategic multi-channel and cross-platform approach expects that more than 2.7 million Australians experienced the premiere of realestate.com.au’s new brand campaign2.

The campaign, Australia lives here, aims to show property seekers that realestate.com.au offers much more than property listings. The series of television commercials begins when Arnold discovers realestate.com.au in his search to move back to his beloved Austria. Under the incorrect assumption that the ‘.au’ is an Austrian site, Arnie goes through a comedy of errors in his quest to find the perfect home, despite the gentle prompts from his in-the-know Australian assistant, Dylan.

realestate.com.au group manager marketing strategy, Natalie Feehan, said the campaign aligns the brand’s positioning to the business’s long term strategic direction.

Says Feehan: “Australia lives here is the culmination of six months of work refining and re-articulating the brand strategy to support realestate.com.au’s future growth.

“The brand has been known and widely accepted as Australia’s number one property site. The fact is, we know our audience engages with our site throughout the property cycle, not just when they are buying and selling3, so we wanted to expand perception of the site by creating an engaging campaign that tells a story.

“Through Arnie’s discovery of realestate.com.au, we get to see other parts of the site that are helpful for consumers like suburb profiles, sold price information, investment data and editorial content.”

In relation to filming the campaign, the ‘Austrian Oak’, Arnold Schwarzenegger said he hadn’t had this much fun on the small screen in a long time.

Says Schwarzenegger: “I had such a fantastic experience making the commercials for realestate.com.au with acclaimed American comedy director John Hamburg. I learnt a lot about Australia in the process, like how to say Wagga Wagga. I also found it’s hard to find a home with a cheese cave or professionally equipped gym.”

BWM’s managing director Mark Watkin said the idea of using Arnold Schwarzenegger was deliberately left-field.

Says Watkin: “When we conceived the creative idea of Arnold as the lead character, it was because we wanted cut through and to make people think differently about the realestate.com.au brand. The campaign ultimately is about discovery; so that people are curious to find out more.”

Mediacom CEO Mark Pejic said the media schedule was bought to help drive the story as it unfolds over television – a unique narrative aspect to the campaign.

Says Pejic: “The media schedule was planned to amplify the high impact of creative at launch in a way that would get Australia’s attention. Beyond launch, it’s really interesting to see a story like this play out over time across television, online, social media, print and outdoor media.”

To follow Arnie, Dylan and their adventures with Australian real estate, visit realestate.com.au/ausliveshere and follow #ausliveshere on Twitter.

Client: realestate.com.au

3 realestate.com.au Housing Affordability Sentiment Index, May 2014