Date of Publication

8-2020

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Marketing Communications

Subject Categories

Marketing

College

Ramon V. Del Rosario College of Business

Department/Unit

Marketing and Advertising

Thesis Adviser

Dave Vincent Mangilet

Defense Panel Chair

Jose Luis Liongson

Defense Panel Member

Benedicto Villanueva
Jacqueline Timbol-Guerta

Abstract/Summary

Trust is an important currency in real estate brokerage. As a service, there is a great deal of intangibility in brokerage that forces customers to seek for explicit and implicit cues to properly evaluate a service provider. Persuading its target market to consider Santos Knight Frank as its broker is one of the challenges faced the company. One way to enhance or build brand trust is by anchoring on perceived service quality. An effective integrated marketing communications plan should thus be crafted to support this objective.

Santos Knight Frank, Inc. is a 26-year old organization that is well known in the industry for its commercial and corporate real estate services. With more than 1,400 people and 11 service lines, it has brokered a number of deals that defined the property sector. It is a full-service real estate company, catering to clients with needs from consultancy to property management. The full spectrum of services has been a competitive advantage, with only a select number of firms able to match the breadth of scope. At the same time, its other strengths include its global affiliation with Knight Frank, years in the industry, and long-standing relationships with key clients. While this strength is well known among corporates, the residential brokerage business -- one of its 11 service lines -- has surfaced to be a potential growth area. This has become evident with the increase in sales over the last three years.

Santos Knight Frank currently competes with two sets of competitors: the full-service real estate providers (Colliers and KMC Savills) and the residential brokerage-focused firms such as Top Realty, Re/max Philippines, and List by Sothebys. Upon comparison, Santos Knight Frank’s strengths lie with its high-end listings and full-service offering.

COVID-19 has disrupted the property market after decades of growth. Not only has construction of new residential projects came to a halt, but it is feared that buyers will stop major investment decisions as a result. The economy, whose performance is tied with the property sector, is going through a recession with much uncertainty ahead. However, there are still opportunities to be seen in residential real estate. In a volatile environment, owners will want to liquidate their assets and buyers will want to take advantage of price adjustments. It is likely that people will want to list their properties with brokerage firms, and buyers will be scouting for good deals. At the same time, homes are a basic need. There is also a reason to believe that there is much liquidity available among buyers and sellers in the prime residential space.

As an industry, real estate brokerage is still attractive for those companies that can form their own niche in a highly competitive space. While threats of new entrants and substitutes are on the low side, the other three dimensions of Porter’s threats of competition, bargaining power of buyers, and bargaining power of suppliers are areas to address.

With a cautious optimistic mindset, this campaign has sought to explore how brand trust on Santos Knight Frank’s Residential Services team can be lifted. Research suggests that service quality has an effect on brand trust, although this has not been fully explored in the real estate brokerage sector. This campaign identified 13 hypotheses with regards to perceived service quality (tangibility, responsiveness, reliability, assurance, and empathy) and brand trust. Using both quantitative methods and analysis, this research sought to determine the relationship between perceived service quality and brand trust; between the dimensions of perceived service quality and brand trust; and the five dimensions against one another. Results have shown that three dimensions of perceived service quality, namely tangibility, empathy, and responsiveness, have significant effects on brand trust. Overall, perceived service quality can be a predictor of brand trust. These findings were cross-checked with qualitative methods, namely in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Empathy and tangibility surfaced as important elements, based on respondents. For Santos Knight Frank’s Residential Services, brand trust can be built or enhanced by highlighting the three dimensions.

The research also revealed the propensity of customers, especially during COVID-19, to lean on digital media in interacting with touchpoints related with real estate brokerage, buying, selling, and leasing. At the same time, personal relationships and recommendations by families and friends are important channels for brokers to tap.

Therefore, as a strategy, this campaign recommends to utilize service quality to drive brand trust, utilize both the online and personal channels as communication tools, and emphasize Santos Knight Frank’s strengths as a real estate broker (such as full-service platform and high- end listings). The campaign, which will run for 12 months beginning October 2020, aims to increase listings by 8% (or about 900) and generate 3,600 inquiries and 360,000 visits to the website.

To achieve this, a creative strategy that reflects on the pillars of service of Santos Knight Frank will be implemented. The campaign’s target market is 35 to 74-year-old Filipinos with income of at least P140,284 monthly, or P1.6 million annually. They usually occupy senior roles in companies and have families. Whether sellers or buyers, these customers need brokers to provide peace of mind, comfort, and security in high-value transactions like real estate. Services must be executed with consideration to tangibility, empathy, and responsiveness, as revealed by the research.

Building on the insight from the research, the big idea will reflect on “Feel Home with Santos Knight Frank”, which demonstrates Santos Knight Frank’s ability to provide a feeling of home as a metaphor to the quality of service it has. Santos Knight Frank’s brokers are branded as “personal property advisers” to reflect the full-service nature of the firm -- one of its core strengths. Three taglines have been proposed to capture the message.

The media strategy entails utilizing both online and personal channels. Traffic from social media, paid digital ads, and email campaigns will be funneled into the campaign landing page. The campaign landing page will feature not only the high-end listings of Santos Knight Frank, but also entertaining content such as “At Home with Santos Knight Frank” (a home property tour with a client, showing the service of Santos Knight Frank) and client testimonial video. This type of media strategy is a clear approach to tangibilization -- showing the service, not simply telling it. Meanwhile, the campaign will also harness the power of personal recommendations through a referral program. Other tactics include public relations, merchandise, OOH/signage, and digital flyers.

A total budget of P2,160,895 is estimated for the 12-month run of the campaign. Meanwhile, it is forecasted that the campaign will generate P7,150,000. This means that for each peso invested in the campaign, Santos Knight Frank will generate roughly thrice the return.

Abstract Format

html

Language

English

Format

Electronic

Keywords

Real estate business; Marketing

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Embargo Period

8-25-2022

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