Coldwell Banker Real Estate is turning its marketing eye toward smart home technology. It announced sponsorship deals last week with the massive tech conference Consumer Electronics Show and the tech and review site CNET at its annual convention in Chicago.
The Realogy brand will sponsor the “Smart Home Marketplace” at next year’s Consumer Electronics Show, which runs Jan. 6-9 in Las Vegas and expects to draw over 150,000 attendees.
Coldwell Banker has already made moves to own the rich smart home corner this year. The Consumer Electronics Association, the organization that puts on CES, estimates that the home tech industry will gobble up $967 million in revenue this year, a 32 percent jump over 2014.
In March, Coldwell Banker published a detailed blog around smart home technology it scouted at the 2015 CES show. In August, it produced a joint survey of over 4,000 consumers with CNET, in which 81 percent of respondents said they would be more likely to buy a home if smart technology were already installed.
This marketing announcement marks the latest iteration of the ongoing brand war among several of the nation’s largest franchisors, including Coldwell Banker’s Realogy cousin Century 21 Real Estate, Re/Max and newbie Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices.
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“The connected home is here, and its influence on everything from home pricing to curb appeal to how we move through our daily lives is transforming right before our eyes,” said Coldwell Banker Chief Marketing Officer Sean Blankenship in a statement.
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“By being at the forefront of this shift, we are ensuring the Coldwell Banker network has a competitive advantage in the marketplace,” he added.
The brand’s CNET deal includes branded content on cnet.com around how smart technology can make homes more connected, comfortable, convenient and cost-efficient beginning in the fourth quarter. The tech site attracts over 32 million monthly visitors, according to Coldwell Banker.
Coldwell Banker also became the exclusive real estate sponsor of CNET’s test smart home, a “living laboratory” where its editorial team will explore how smart home products behave, interact and test in everyday environments. The brand will co-sponsor the smart home section on CNET.com and the website’s Tech West updates during CES 2016.
Coldwell Banker joined CEA’s TechHome Division, the first real estate brand to do so. The division helps consumers navigate buying smart home technologies and systems.
As part of its sponsorship, Coldwell Banker will lead an educational session on smart homes and real estate at CES.