Purplebricks’ autumn marketing blitz goes ahead despite shock jobs move

Purplebricks’ chief executive says a £4m marketing blitz scheduled for the autumn will go ahead despite the upheaval caused by the shift of its Local Property Experts from self-employed to employed.

The change in job status was announced yesterday - you can see full details here - and CEO Vic Darvey admits there will be disruption to the agency’s normal services while the transition of local agents continues throughout August.

However, there will still be a major marketing campaign beginning in late September, emphasising the local knowledge that Darvey says exists with the existing LPEs and those likely to join Purplebricks from other agencies.

Darvey has told Estate Agent Today: “When we have our new employed LPEs in place there will be a very different shape to Purplebricks. There will be clusters of local experts.”

He says the local marketing will take the form of local TV and radio advertisements emphasising the regions in which they are broadcast, naming key cities and territories where LPEs are based. 

There will be local marketing and sponsorship of events, and individual LPE names will come up in Google searches based on users’ locations, to make the local agents both recognisable and approachable.

Darvey’ s pro-local stance backs up statements earlier in the year by Purplebricks’ new chief marketing officer, Ben Carter, who announced that having established a strong brand at national level, the agency would tilt to emphasising its local qualities.

Last week it was revealed that Purplebricks had hired another creating PR agency to work on its consumer campaign.

Taylor Herring - part of the larger Publicis group - was selected following a four-way competitive pitch. The company’s objective is to create more “fame and awareness” for the Purplebricks brand.