CEO Corner

We have all heard about how the internet is changing the way we do things.  Well here is a true story of how a musician used the internet to her advantage and change her life by thinking differently and embracing the internet.

It was during the cold, short days at the start of 2006 that Sandi Thom had her Eureka! moment. Instead of driving to gigs up and down the country with her band in her clapped-out car, as she had done for years, the singer from Scotland resolved to try a different approach. She bought a webcam, and announced a run of 21 shows to be performed on consecutive nights during February and March in the basement of her flat in Tooting, South London. The audience capacity in the flat itself was limited to just six people. But the half-hour shows were to be broadcast, free of charge, via her website at www.sandithom.com. The first night, 70 people tuned in to watch, the next night it went up to 670. And by the middle of the second week she was performing to a peak audience of 162,000. By then, the suits from every major record label had visited the flat to see the show for themselves. What they heard was a singer with a sensational voice - strong and expressive enough to fill the largest theatres, but also warm and soulful enough to win over hearts and minds in the most intimate of settings. All the record companies put in offers, and a fortnight after finishing her virtual tour Thom signed a recording contract with RCA executive Craig Logan, live in front of her webcam audience.

Even before her debut album, *Smile... It Confuses People* is released on June 5, preceded by a single, *I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker* on May 22, Sandi Thom is a phenomenon. The company is calling it "the first webcast signing in major record label history" and she has become the overnight internet star who won a global audience and a megabucks handshake thanks to her investment in a £60 webcam. Needless to say, the story goes a little deeper than that.

If only i had thought of that first ... and could actually play!

Posted by Simon at 06:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We have all heard about viral marketing and have seen some great results. 

So, propertyfinder.com in partnership with allrealestate.co.nz and realestate.com.au, decided to try the same viral marketing campaign.  This time it was based around the concept of weird flat mates.  We create a website www.weirdflatmate.com with an interactive blog and a commercial (that hasnt aired on TV) and let it loose.

The results have been fantastic.  The TV ad has been viewed over 370,000 times around the world.  It was featured on the front page of myspace.com in the US.  The approach has been way beyond our expectations.  The website has been visited by thousands and we have had thousands of comments and stories about living with weird flat mates.

Viral marketing is certainly the way of the future.

If you havent seen the ad, check it out below.

Posted by Simon at 06:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There are often great ideas that blossom on the internet including such well known names as google, amazon and ebay.  However, over the years there have been the real duds - i am sure every one remembers pets.com and the sock puppet.

So it was with interest that i was reading an article in the Wall Street Journal about "The Best of the Worst" of the internet.  Do you remember cyberrebate.com, flooz.com, ismell, cuecats, iLoo, Audrey or point cast?

• Cyberrebate worked on the theory that people would be happy to pay up to 10 x the value of a product on the condition that they received a 100% rebate.  The company worked on the theory that not all people would claim the rebate and they would make money.  They closed their doors $83 m in debt
• iSmells was a product created to enhance the web surfing experience by engaging the users' sense of smell by plugging the device into the USB port.  Enough said ...
• In May 2003, Microsoft announced the plans for iLoo - an internet enabled toilet!  The UK office announced plans for a portable toilet complete with a computer, waterproof keyboard and wireless Internet connection, to be used at summer music festivals in England. 
• And we all remember pointcast - the technology to automatically deliver news and headlines over the web to the user's PC ... well the company knocked back $450m from News Corp and was eventually sold for $7m.

For more information check out the full Wall Street Journal article and enjoy ... http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114424637699117715-OO16F7Ov3DMZcs1xpbu5ksPDTl0_20070503.html

Posted by Simon at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Propertyfinder.com is pleased to announce that Warren Bright has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer. 

Warren boasts a distinguished career in Senior Management at real estate businesses and online media companies and brings a unique blend of property, online, marketing and management consulting experience to propertyfinder.com and the UK market.

Warren has founded two businesses serving the Australian real estate industry – True Property Management and True Real Estate Solutions – and has served as a Director on the boards of a number of real estate related companies. 

He has also been the Chief Operating Officer of McGrath Estate Agents, Australia's largest and most innovative independent estate agent and has spent 3 years successfully running the internet businesses for News Corporation in Australia. 

Warren Bright comments, “I am really looking forward to leading propertyfinder.com.  I firmly believe that we are in the best position to challenge Rightmove for leadership in the UK online property advertising industry.  We have a tremendous brand and can offer our clients truly national coverage and our association with News International gives us access to some of the UK’s finest newspapers to help promote our brand.  Our relationship with realestate.com.au ensures that we have access to the world’s most advanced real estate portal technology.  It also lets us tap into a global network with over 4.5 million visitors each month.”

Bright continues, “We are in the fortunate position of being able to focus all our energies onto the one thing that matters – providing our customers with outstanding online advertising solutions.  We will not be distracted by HIP’s or building new technologies.  The coming year will see propertyfinder.com launch a range of innovative new products that will allow agents to promote their businesses and their properties in a far more effective way than they are able to on the other portals.”

realestate.com.au Ltd. is the 50% owner of propertyfinder.com and the number one property portal in Australia.  Managing Director, Simon Baker comments, “We are extremely pleased to have someone of the caliber of Warren heading up propertyfinder.com.  He has a great track record of building businesses and we believe that his unique blend of property, online, marketing and management consulting experience will ensure that propertyfinder.com challenges Rightmove for market leadership.”

Posted by Simon at 06:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Today realestate.com.au Ltd (ASX:REA), the 50% sahreholder of propertyfinder.com, is announcing that it has finalised an agreement to acquire all of the shares in HubOnline Global Pty Ltd for A$6 million.

HubOnline Global Pty Ltd is one of the leading providers of web based sales, lead management and marketing solutions to Australian and New Zealand estate agents.  It has over 480 offices providing its services to customers such as Laing & Simmons, Roberts Real Estate, Coldwell Banker, Marshall White, Belle Property and Thomson Real Estate.

HubOnline Global’s main offering is PropertiesOnline, a fully integrated sales, lead management and marketing application that helps franchises, real estate principals and sales agents to:

• Coordinate the marketing of the agency to potential sellers
• Easily manage all buyer and seller leads
• Easily manage all the office listings
• Create and drive innovative marketing programs for vendor properties
• Centrally upload online advertising to sites such as www.realestate.com.au; www.allrealestate.co.nz and domain.com.au
• Produce detailed reports on the performance of the agency and / or the franchise group
• Manage the office website

Agents can enter seller and buyer leads into PropertiesOnline and then easily manage these leads through to sale or purchase finalisation.  The application will be integrated with www.realestate.com.au and potentially other portal sites so that agents can easily upload and track their listings.  All agents require is access to an internet connection as the application is web-based and centrally managed.

The HubOnline business will be combined with the realestate.com.au Web Design Services – Australia’s largest developer of websites for real estate agents and currently powers over 2,500 office sites including the Ray White and Raine & Horne Queensland head office sites.  

Simon Baker, Managing Director of realestate.com.au Ltd, said “we believe that there is an opportunity to move beyond online advertising by providing our 10,500 customers across Australia, NZ and the UK with a market leading sales, lead management and marketing application.  This will make it easier for agents to do business and help them drive greater revenues at lower costs.” 

“HubOnline is a market leader and our preferred partner.  They have spent 6 years developing and selling what is considered by many as the industry’s most advanced sales, lead management and marketing solution,” said Simon Baker.

According to James Tucker, Managing Director of HubOnline Global Pty Ltd, “realestate.com.au is our partner of choice.  They have the marketing power and relationships to help take our products and services to the next level.  We are looking forward to becoming part of their business and making our products and services available to their customers throughout the world.”

Ross Hedditch of Thompson Real Estate commented on the acquisition, “I am delighted to see that HubOnline and realestate.com.au have come together to offer the industry a secure and seamless customer, listings and lead management system that integrates with Australia's largest real estate portal to provide agents with a one stop solution to their online needs.”

realestate.com.au is pleased to announce that James Tucker, the current Managing Director of HubOnline Global Pty Ltd, will be joining realestate.com.au to head up the combined HubOnline and realestate.com.au Web Design Services business unit.  Bryce Graham, the current Sales Director at HubOnline, has been appointed as the Major Accounts Sales Manager for this new business unit.

Posted by Simon at 12:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)