Opendoor to run Super Bowl ad

Open the door to a Super Bowl ad — maybe something cute with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce?

Opendoor, the real estate digital platform, is running a 2024 Super Bowl in collaboration with creative marketing agency Mischief @ No Fixed Address, Adweek reports. 

The move is aimed at reshaping public perception of the housing market, with the Super Bowl serving as the unofficial commencement of the home selling season.

“Our biggest challenge in 2024 will be to rewire consumer expectations that buying and selling a home has to be hard,” Opendoor’s chief marketing officer David Corns told the outlet. 

The collaboration’s initial focus will be on home selling, addressing the common stressors associated with the process. 

Opendoor’s data indicate that a significant portion of homeowners find selling a home more stressful than enduring a lengthy airport delay during the holidays or hosting a large Thanksgiving dinner. Concerns over uncertainty in sale price, selling timeframe, potential offer failures, and the need for last-minute repairs contribute to the anxiety.

The campaign will aim to show how the platform alleviates those stressors, emphasizing features such as no last-minute repairs, stagings, or showings. Homeowners can receive an initial cash offer within minutes by providing quick details about their property online.

Greg Hahn, co-founder and chief creative officer at Mischief, praised Opendoor for challenging conventional norms in the real estate industry and expressed a shared commitment to unconventional storytelling.

Opendoor’s recent collaboration with Alma as a creative and strategic partner, targeting the 55+ age group, underscores the platform’s diverse marketing approach. 

The reported 2023 spend projection for Opendoor stands at $59 million, according to COMvergence. As the Super Bowl campaign unfolds, Opendoor seeks to reshape consumer expectations and position itself as a transformative force in the real estate market.

The intersection of the Super Bowl and real estate typically is in the buyer/seller or short-term rental spaces.

Several years ago, luxury residential brokers and agents in Miami held open houses, set up meetings with athletes and wealthy attendees, hosted events, and rolled out targeted social media campaigns for potential buyers. 

Mark Zilbert of Brown Harris Stevens Miami called it “the biggest week of the year.”

With so many fans descending on a particular city, they also need a place to stay. Last year, the Phoenix area’s short-term rental market responded in kind — with eye-popping price surges, the Wall Street Journal reported. 

Fans of the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs, most of whom paid north of $9,000 just for a ticket to the game, also faced short-term rental rates 60 percent higher than they were at that time last year according to data from AirDNA.

Major sporting events often bring a short-term rental boom to the regions hosting them. The city of Los Angeles hosted last year’s Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium, bringing in $4 million in bookings to Airbnb hosts, a spokesperson for the service told the outlet. 

— Ted Glanzer