The Challenge
A variety of student housing properties within Campus Advantage’s portfolio needed to implement a creative, incentivizing campaign to differentiate themselves against the competition in their respective markets throughout the U.S. with the goals of driving traffic to their properties, boosting leasing, and securing renewals.
The Solution
Catalyst created a portfolio-wide integrated marketing campaign called Pick a Package, which provided a unique means for properties to offer prospects and residents the opportunity to choose a themed prize that best fit their lifestyle when they signed a lease. The following four themed packages were offered:
- The Fitness Fan (centered on headphones, nutrition-based gift cards, and other sporting goods)
- The Shopaholic (an Amazon-centric tech and shopping package)
- The Life of the Party (filled with fun items, such as YETI coolers, speakers, sunglasses, and a football tailgate package)
- The Rewarded Resident (offered cleaning services and home decor items)
Deliverables for each property included a poster, a half-page flyer, eight social graphics, a 30-second promotional video, two emails, and a landing page to promote the campaign. The color scheme used in the campaign consisted of bright, eye-catching colors that were geared toward a generic/unisex approach in order for the packages to work effectively for all participating properties.
The Results
Ten Campus Advantage properties participated in the Pick a Package integrated campaign: 25 East (East Lansing, MI), Grindstone Canyon (Columbia, MO), The Lodges at 777 (Baton Rouge, LA), Parker 301 (Tuscaloosa, AL), The Armstrong (Baton Rouge, LA), The Davis (Greenville, NC), The Oliver (Baton Rouge, LA), Torchlight (Tallahassee, FL), The Villas at Riverbend (Baton Rouge, LA), and The Wyatt (Kalamazoo, MI).
Overall, 77 leads were generated from the emails built for the campaign, with each property receiving at least three leads. Parker 301 (15) and The Davis (14) garnered the most leads, and most properties achieved an open rate above the industry benchmark of 23.4%.
