Integrated Marketing and Promotion

Cyclone’s integrated marketing strategy for CountryWide’s Woodland Hills development utilized print, billboard, web, multimedia and radio. This combined with a cross promotional giveaway of a fuel efficient vehicle with every home sale helped drive over 500 attendees to the grand opening event, the weekend following the 2008 market meltdown. The campaign also generated approximately $100,000 in free media (newspapers, magazine and T.V.) for the CountryWide Brand.

Client

CountryWide Homes is one of Ontario's fastest growing residential home builders in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

Discovery

The CountryWide brand lacked top-of-mind awareness with new-home buyers and their marketing materials were very generic, template driven and lacked personality.

Analysis

CountryWide was understating the distinct personalities and attractions of their development neighbourhoods.

New-home buyers want a sense of place and community, along with quality and value in their homes: CountryWide wasn't plugging in to those needs and expectations.

Strategy

A brand review and competitive market research was conducted to determine the appropriate corporate positioning and personality for each development. Our solution was to create a theme for each development that tied into each community and it's values while speaking to the intended target audience in a manner that would captivate prospective buyers.

Newmarket is a leading edge community, with a clear vision that promotes a healthy community, sustainable transportation and high quality living without compromising the resources of future generations.

For the Woodland Hills Project in Newmarket, Cyclone Creative developed an overall position and thematic that represented the vision and values of the community.

Our media strategy was designed to optimize brand awareness while maximizing awareness of the development and our promotional strategy included giving away a fuel efficient vehicle with every home sale.

Outcome

With a short time frame and limited momentum, the campaign was able to generate huge media buzz, resulting in a greater overall awareness of the Countrywide brand. In addition, a substantial amount of free media exposure was achieved throughout GTA including the Toronto Star, Toronto Sun, Global Television, CTV News and other local media. The campaign attracted approximately 500 attendees to the grand opening event.