Young America Realty Darby D’Andrea, Hunter DeFrees, Katie Picciola & Tyler Savaglio

MKT 233.001- Dr. Hulda Black May 6th 2018

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Executive Summary This Creative Brief provides an in depth overview of Young America Realty as well as

the plan and creative’s to reach the desired target market. First we completed some primary

research on Young America Realty. We completed a SWOT Analysis (Arens, Weigold 241) as

well as a social media audit. This allowed us to gain background knowledge on the company

with their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, as well as threats. The social media audit allowed

us to see they are currently doing and how they can improve their social media presence.

Through that research we found an area in their social media to expand and improve on.

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Target Audience Profile & Background of Client

A. Background of Client and Problem

Our client is Young America Realty. They have been in the Bloomington/Normal

Community for forty years. They focus on managing rentals on Illinois State's Campus and

Illinois Wesleyan Campus, as well as other residential areas in the community. They offer over

one thousand student rentals and over five hundred and fifty residential rentals. However, they

do compete with a few other leasing agencies.

When looking at Young America as a whole, they have a lot of strengths and weaknesses.

Two of their strengths is that they are the largest student realtor on campus. A long side that, they

have the highest number of properties as well. A major weakness that Young America has is that

all their properties are very expensive. They all rage between six hundred and eight hundred

dollars. They only have a few apartment complexes that are below six hundred dollars which

may lead to someone signing a lease with a different company. Young America also has a huge

opportunity for growth with all the exemption rates increasing. More and more freshman each

year are getting exempt from living in the on campus dorms. This gives Young America a huge

opportunity to market towards the freshman who are going to need apartment complexes for their

sophomore year. Lastly, there are some threats that Young America is going to face. The number

of outside relators is increasing and this could cause students to go with another company. As

well, there are most cost effective options for living that people can go with, and that could

easily sway a student to sign with another company.

When looking at how Young America does this on social media and around campus, they

do promotional giveaways on the quad and also through their office. For example a few weeks

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ago they had their tenitate appreciation week where they handed something different every single

day of the week. On their social media they are constantly giving away free things such as yeti

coolers, free gift cards, or free rent for a month, etc.

Lastly, when looking at Young America and relating to the stages of the IMC Pyramid,

they are in the conviction stage (Arens, Weigold 253) of the IMC pyramid because we are trying

to get people to believe in the product and its values. And the major problem we are trying to

solve for Young America is that we are trying to make sure college kids have a place to live after

university housing is no longer an option for them.

B. Target Audience

Our target audience would be college students. Specifically we would be targeting

freshman and sophomores. These students will be looking for off campus housing and Young

America could be the realtor of choice. These students are typically 18-21 years old. College

students all have somewhat similar interests. We would be marketing to students that are

currently living in University housing. By doing this we are marketing to students that possess a

clear need and Young America can fulfill that need. Students are out and about very often. They

need a place to stay that is comfortable and that they can make their own. Students often value

price as they are shopping for apartments. Service si something else that is important to students.

It will be very important to include and display these values in our advertisement.

Right now Young America is seen as a very popular realtor. Opinions will always vary

but for the most part Young America is very popular. They own more apartments around the

Illinois State campus than any other realtor. Young America is a popular realtor for Greek Life.

The company offers discounts to fraternities and sororities that sign for apartments together. The

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company continues to offer low monthly rates and great service to college students, this will be

displayed in the advertisements that we create. Currently there are around 2,000-4,000 students

that live in Young America. This number will most likely only increase as Young America

continues to grow and develop. Therefore the target market will be around 5,000 students.

C. Campaign Objective

The primary objective is to persuade the students at Illinois State’s campus see the value

in renting with Young America throughout the year. We chose this objective because they are in

the conviction phase (Arens, Weigold 253) of the IMC Pyramid. They have plenty of brand

awareness however, they need to show the value of why students should choose them over other

leasing agencies. It can be measured by students reactions to the creative. It will be achieved by

releasing our creatives in a timely manner and analyzing the targets reaction to them.

D. Tone/Brand Voice

We want our brand voice or tone to be very welcoming and caring so that the customer

knows we are actually sincere about the message we are portraying. If we came off too

overbearing then our audience would think we are forcing them to live with us. But if we stay

relaxed and welcoming they will be drawn in because in any home you want to feel welcomed.

And college is a huge step and people’s first times away from home.

Creative Message Strategy & Execution

A. Single Minded Proposition

We want our audience to know that we are not trying to just take their money and give

them a horrible or run down place to live in. We are trying to boost their college experience with

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an up to date place that they will feel comfortable to call their home. So the SMP is “We tell you

how, our residents tell you why”.

B. Reasons Why/Consumer Insight

Below are some of the reasons to believe why Young America is the best realty company

on campus and they the students should sign with us:

1. Our audience is going to want to sign with a realty company that is going to care about

them and be there for the tenants if any issues every come up within the apartment.

2. Everyone cares about what kind of home they live in in college to make their experience

the best. Young America creates apartments that students would love to live in.

3. A reason to buy is because a realty company who is not just trying to take your money is

important and our SMP portrays that. As well, our testimonials from our current residents

show that as well.

4. We care about our tenants and we provide incentives and events throughout the year for

them.

5. A reason to love with us is because Young America has some of the best housing on

campus and creating a great living experience for the tenants since they care where they

live.

6. Almost every person who has lived with Young America can testify about all the great

service they have provided them.

C. Message Appeal

The message appeal that we are going to use for Young America is the testimonial appeal

(Arens, Weigold 362). This fits with our SMP because we are really trying to reach out to

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college kids to let them know that we are here to help them and make their college experience

the best that it can be, and we are going to have some of our past and current residents tell you

why that is. This appeals to our target market of college students because a lot of college kids are

looking for a place to live that cares about them and not just collecting their money. As well,

college students listen to what other college students have to say so word of mouth is very

important. Lastly, this fits the tone of the campaign because the last thing that we want them to

worry about is where they are living. They should be able to come back to their apartment or

house knowing that they get to relax. So with this SMP we feel that we are getting our message

across best throughout the campaign.

Creatives Design/Copy

A testimonial appeal (Arens, Weigold 362) was used in our advertisements. Therefor, all

of our ads featured college students and residents of Young America apartments with quotes. In

all of the ads we created, the Young America logo is located in the bottom left corner. The logo

is easily recognizable and since it in the same location viewers know that it is a Young America

advertisement. The “we tell you how, our residents tell you why” text is larger and at the top of

the page. With the logo at the bottom and text at the top, the main focus of the ads are in the

middle, those are our residents. This creates balance (Arens, Weigold 344) in the

advertisements. Being that the phrase, “we tell you how, our residents tell you why” is at the top,

it is the first thing that viewers read. They will then continue to look below and see the quote and

ultimately see the logo. The logo is the last thing that the viewers are left with. The emphasis of

this ad is on the resident. A storyboard (Arens, Weigold 365) was also created for one of our

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advertisements. This helped us visualize what exactly the commercial would like when regarding

the tone and and sequence of action that was going to be used. Once we finished the final

storyboard we were able to go back and make sure that the mood, tone, etc. was everything that

we were looking for in our commercial.

Conclusions / Assessment / Effectiveness of Campaign

We are going to measure out and see if our impressions through out all our social media

platforms are increasing. These will include people clicking on our social media posts and people

visiting our website. As well we are going to see if more freshman and sophomores are coming

into our office to learn more about our company. This does not just refer to people signing

leases, it refers to people coming in to talk to us and maybe talk to a leasing agent and visiting

some of our apartments.

References

Arens, William F., and Michael F. Weigold. Contemporary Advertising and Integrated

Marketing Communications. McGraw-Hill Education, 2017.

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Creatives

3 Content Images:

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Outdoor Advertisement (Billboard):

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Storyboard:

Digital Sales Promotion:

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