A:  Some friends of mine had their house listed for sale with me, and despite being perfectly presented and really well marketed, the property was still being lost in the crowded on line market place.  At one point they said to me “Ads, we’re doing everything we can, what else is there we can do?”  So I suggested a James Bond inspired video to raise even more interest in the house and hopefully people would share it on social media – eventually attracting the right buyer.

Q:  Did that work?

A:  It certainly had people talking.  Within a week of the video hitting YouTube, we had over 2,000 YouTube views.  The average YouTube view rate for an entire campaign on our channel is 170.  When we did sell the house to the buyers, they said they had watched the video about ten times.  

Q:  What themes have you done so far?

A:  James Bond was the first (3,433 views as of 22nd May 2013 – uploaded 11th September 2012), followed by Indiana Jones (1,762 views – uploaded 5th October 2012), followed by Austin Powers (over 5,000 views in four days) and finally Braveheart (5,907 views – uploaded 17th March 2013.)  Ironically, my favourite of the four has the least amount of views – Indiana.

Q:  Does producing Themed Videos sell houses faster than usual?

A:  Well that’s hard to quantify.  I think having any videos helps to sell a house faster generally speaking, but themed videos do seem to reach more people in a shorter period of time.  As an example, the James Bond video went live on 11th September 2012 and we accepted an offer on it exactly four weeks later.  The average time on the market in that particular suburb at the time was 180 days.  The Braveheart house took even less time than that from uploading the video to receiving an accepted offer.

Q:  Who writes the script and produces everything for you?

A:  I always conceptualise and write the script.  From there I do a rough story board, book in the film crew, make costumes if required, book in “co-stars” and direct the action.  I have access to a great film crew who do the shooting, audio, editing, titles and music for me.

Q:  How long does all of that take?

A:  From pre-production to YouTube upload about 8 solid hours, give or take depending on the number of locations and number of cast.  For example, Austin Powers had a cast of 15, took about 20 hours and included rehearsals.  I’m never doing a musical again!

Q:  How do you choose what type of property will suit a theme?

A:  Just about any house can have a suitable theme, but what I really need is suitable vendors.  Not many vendors would agree to letting me splash blue face paint on and gal-avant around in their front yard with a kilt and a toy horse screaming at the top of my lungs.  So if I have fun vendors who trust me enough to take the risk, that’s even more important than the type of house I’m shooting in.

Q:  Who funds these productions?

A:  Early on I realised that a vendor is not going to want to fork out for the whole production, so I came up with the idea that we could fund half of it with product placement.  This means I find a sponsor for each video and place their product in there somewhere.  Then I took it one step further and offered a deal with the sponsor if someone mentions the name of the Theme.  So with Braveheart, people had to mention “Braveheart” to get 15% off the products at Mass Nutrition Wagga.  I know some people find that tacky, because it takes away from the property, but it really doesn’t if it’s done right.  The house is always the hero.  That’s really important to remember.

Q:  How would you suggest others could use video to raise profile for themselves and their properties?