CMK Development
We helped our client sell over half of a new development's units in six months.
Client:
CMK Companies is an industry-leading real estate developer that has helped redefine the concept of urban living with its award-winning contemporary buildings. The firm is responsible for nearly $1 billion in real estate development with projects in Chicago, Florida, Michigan and the Caribbean.
Brief:
As an industry leader, CMK Companies ambitiously undertook development of the largest downtown Chicago condo project since the 1970s at 714 units. They also did this a time when the real estate market was the worst it had been since the Great Depression.
Insight:
Developers in the City of Chicago have traditionally spent their marketing dollars in one place – The Sunday Edition of the Chicago Tribune. This opened up the possibility to market this development in new and unique ways – capturing potential buyers without advertising competition from other developers.
Solution:
In addition to having a baseline presence in the Chicago Tribune, we developed a campaign that included office tower elevator video & lobby advertising, digital & social media marketing, transit advertising, video-on-demand long-form commercials, search engine marketing, and direct marketing to Chicago-area realtors.
Results:
Within 6 months, over 50% of the units in the building had been sold. CMK Companies also reported the highest sales of all residential developers in the Chicago area, accounting for nearly 10% of the market and easily beating struggling national homebuilders like Pulte Homes Inc. and Lennar Corp. This was at a time when across Chicagoland, sales of new condominiums and townhomes had dropped 27% from the same period the previous year.