OLR exec poses as Tekserve’s latest model

Joseph Ben-Zvi, the director of sales at real estate software development company On-Line Residential, never pictured himself as a model.

But he couldn’t resist when Tekserve, the Apple-product superstore where he’s been a loyal customer, approached him to appear in a new marketing campaign.

Now he’s pictured in a nearly six-foot-high Tekserve ad posted in the F/M subway station at 23rd Street.

Ben-Zvi is one of 20 Tekserve customers and employees featured in similar ads posted throughout the city and running in publications like New York magazine and the New York Times. Each one shows an individual using an Apple product that Tekserve customized for them. In Ben-Zvi’s case, it’s an iPad.

In the ad, Ben-Zvi wears a miniature model of Manhattan on his head, and is quoted as saying: “NYC real estate is on my mind. My customized iPads encourage insight at a glance.”

MEIER, the marketing firm that created the campaign for Tekserve, used customers and employees instead of models because “we wanted the chance to tell real stories,” said Diane Meier, the campaign’s creative director. “They’re compelling and instructive.”

Ben-Zvi first became involved with Tekserve about a year ago, when the Apple specialist helped make sure OLR.com functioned smoothly on all Apple devices. The two companies “have been collaborating with services and discounts for OLR subscribers ever since,” Ben-Zvi said.

The Tekserve salesperson managing OLR’s account recommended Ben-Zvi for the ad spot, and it seemed like the perfect match.

Ben-Zvi is “articulate, he’s an advocate and he is so very attractive,” Meier quipped. “And his willingness to wear NYC on his head — I mean, we couldn’t have asked for more.”

The campaign launched just before Christmas and has resulted in “an uptick in foot traffic” and new customers at the store, Meier said. A second wave of similar Tekserve ads will appear after a shoot scheduled to take place over the summer, she said.

Eventually, the campaign will expand to include online interviews on Tekserve’s website highlighting everyone featured in the ads.