When Move Inc. hired Elizabeth Banks as the celebrity spokeswoman for realtor.com, the actress, producer and director set to work using humor to guide first-time buyers through the often-stressful experience of purchasing a home.
Now, new homeowners or renters can have Banks brag about their new home for them — while sharing the realtor.com brand with all and sundry.
Santa Clara, California-based Move, a News Corp. subsidiary, rolled out “Homeblebrag” today, a feature that allows homedwellers to automatically generate customized videos in which Banks stands in front of their home and boasts about the property and its owner.
Users enter their address (or any address, really), make a few quick selections, and voila — Banks is standing in front of a Google Street View image of the submitted address. Users can then share the 55-second video via email, Facebook or Twitter.
Screen shot of realtor.com “Homblebrag” video
“The Homeblebrag campaign builds upon our hilarious two-year relationship with Elizabeth Banks,” said Andrew Strickman, head of brand and chief creative for realtor.com, in a press releaese.
“Not only can realtor.com help you find your dream home, we can place Liz in your front yard. You may be too humble to brag about your exciting new home purchase, but realtor.com and Elizabeth Banks are not.”
“The campaign is a humorous play on #humblebrag movement in social media, started by Harris Wittels on Twitter, creating a positive (and hilarious) way to share successes and encourage homeowners to shout their news from the rooftop,” the release added.
Homeblebrag is part of realtor.com’s larger “Own Home” marketing campaign that launched in June and includes TV ads, digital videos and social integrations, the company said.
Realtor.com is the official consumer website of the National Association of Realtors.
The videos in the “Own Home” campaign do not feature agents (NAR has tapped fictional Realtor Phil Dunphy for that), but rather focus on the characteristics of a home that buyers dream about and can be found on the realtor.com website.
Here are a couple of the videos in that campaign: