Zoopla and Rightmove reveal their Christmas adverts

Zoopla is launching its latest advertising campaign from Boxing Day with ideas from the creative minds behind Wallace & Gromit. 

From Wednesday next week Zoopla will introduce Debs and Jess, two hermit crabs who are navigating the property market in a continuation of the campaign that was originally launched in 2017. 

Zoopla commissioned Aardman – the Academy Award winning studio behind Wallace & Gromit – to create the two new CGI animated characters.

The advert will appear during prime-time programming over the Christmas break and afterwards, across TV channels, video-on-demand providers, radio and YouTube and in what Zoopla calls “prime out-of-home locations.”

It forecasts that approximately 90 per cent of ABC1 Adults will see Zoopla’s adverts 12 times.

The portal says that since the ‘crab campaign’ original launch it has helped the broad grow “with spontaneous awareness reaching a record 61 per cent in May 2018 – eight percentage points above Rightmove.”

Investment in this year’s advertising campaign is up 23 per cent annually and Zoopla claims to have invested more than any other property portal in advertising over the past five years as part of its strategy to generate an increasing volume of high quality leads for its agents.

“Our aim is to be the UK’s number 1 property destination and our latest advertising campaign highlights the unique attributes we provide for those looking to buy or rent” explains Zoopla’s chief marketing officer Gary Bramall. 

“The investment in, and quality of, our campaign means we are helping support our agents’ businesses via the most-watched channels over the busiest television viewing period of the year. 

"Agents listing with us will ride the wave of this success over Christmas and into the New Year, as this highly prominent creative campaign drives consumer traffic to our website and quality leads to our agents. When people’s thoughts turn to positive change, which for many will mean a new place to live and a new home, Zoopla and our agents will be front-of-mind.”

Meanwhile Rightmove says its new advertising campaign starts on Christmas Day.

The campaign continues to focus on the dynamics of change in customers' lives - using relatable day-to-day experiences to inspire people to reassess their current home environments and consider whether their homes still match their needs and ambitions.

The new ad, which will run across TV, digital and social over the Christmas period and into 2019, shows a father trying to find a brief moment of peace to read. He’s humorously interrupted by his twins playing the recorder and is later piled upon by his kids who cover him in stickers. He then relocates to the bathroom before being interrupted again.

Eventually, he resorts to sitting outside – at which point he realises, a move might be a good idea. The final shots show the family moving to a more spacious home with room for the kids to play, and it even boasts a big enough shed for Dad to escape to for some very much needed peace and quiet – for now.

The ad will be first shown in the advert break of Channel 4’s The Great Christmas Bake Off at 8pm. 

Iain Kennedy, head of marketing at Rightmove, says: “Christmas is one of the many triggers points for people realising they need more space in their home, as it’s often the time when our home is most full. More than that, it’s also a time when people start to look to the year ahead, making January one of the busiest months for people searching on Rightmove. We hope this ad resonates with many people over the festive period.”

Agents can have a first look at Rightmove's new TV ad below...