Real Esate Advertising in Vina Del Mar

The topic that I want to discuss in this post is not necessarily something that I noticed, but rather a lack of something. In Vina, all around stand large apartment buildings with presumably tens of thousands of units between them. Now I could assume that every single apartment is being occupied, but even in a perfect world, that is near impossible. Thus, their must be some units that need to be rented out. Yet in the month that I have been here, I have seen very little marketing effort for real estate. The most prominent of any advertisements is a simple "se vende" sign on the side of a building. I think this lack of marketing brings up several key questions about the real estate market and how it is sold here in Vina.

1. With all of this available real estate, where would one first go to look into renting or purchasing an apartment?

2. Why does it seem that the marketing for these buildings is so under-funded or simply not there? Is there such a high demand that they do not need to market?

3. What would be the best marketing approach to try and sell real estate here?

To answer the first question, I don't really know. A quick internet search of "Vina Del Mar Chile Real Estate" only provides three distinct  areas to search for available apartments, but even those websites seem outdated and don't market well to the consumer. I understand that searching in English will not provide many results, but that just goes to show that little if any of the marketing is done towards foreigners. Even a search for real estate offices here did not prove to be useful at all.

The only two explanations that I can find for why the marketing is so weak for real estate, are that the demand is at a point where they do not need to, or that they simply do not yet know how to. I understand that the real estate market in Chile is not like that in the U.S. The real estate is often semi-ubiquitous and serves a need, rather than a want to the people. Different firms don't often know how to try and push their specific real estate against another.

Finally, if I were to come into today as the marketing partner for a real estate company here in Vina, I believe that my best approach would be the marketing concept. I would focus intently on market size, market segments and what the people in a specific segment need. An elderly couple would not need a 3 bedroom flat and four young students probably could not get along in a 2 bedroom area. Real estate is more specific than people here think and I believe that a marketing concept strategy in Vina could work wonders for any firm that is trying to sell it's vacant space.

Overall, in terms of real estate here in Vina, I believe that the marketing is trailing the production of buildings and new homes. Firms may know how or where to construct something, but I believe that their attempts to "sell" these properties are too miniscule. A good marketer could do very well in the real estate market here.

Alcohol advertisement differences

The other night I was watching t.v. when a commercial for a Chilean wine came on the air. This got me thinking about the differences between alcohol advertising between the United States and here. In the U.S., nearly every channel, every day, have commercials for beer, liquor and other ways to inebriate oneself. These commercials are normal and it is completely fine to have a commercial representing young adults drinking to the hilt. However, here in Chile, I have noticed that advertisements are geared toward the pleasure and quality of drinks here. Only the finer, well known wineries seem to advertise as well as some of the imported beers such as Stella Artois and Corona. And while there are commercials for beers, such as those of Corona, they are all geared towards the pleasure of the drink itself, not it's effect and the crazy party that will come around if everybody drinks enough of them. The mass consumption of alcohol, especially among students and young adults, plays such a large role in the United States and it shows through advertisements. On the other hand, here the idea of drinking is much more subdued, and only the finer, more sophisticated parts of the enjoyment of drinking are shown through advertisements. This difference is very simple and can seem trivial, but I believe that it shows a great difference between our cultures, through the way that these products are advertised.


Here is a take from one of the Corona ads shown here in Chile. It is simple and stresses more, the enjoyment of your vacation with a Corona beer, instead of the enjoyment of your vacation because of a Corona beer.

On the other end of the spectrum, here is a Keystone ad (a terribly cheap beer) from the U.S. The only true thing that you can take from this, is that Keystone is a beer you can drink excessively for little money. It is most certainly directed towards young adults and students.

After reading a section of the textbook, I understood that certain companies must decide whether to expand their marketing and production to other parts of the world. There are always environmental and firm-specific drivers that push a company towards one part or another. There is certainly a cultural reason as to why Corona is able to market and sell it's product here in Chile while Keystone beer would not last a month.  People here simply do not accept drinking alcohol for it's effect only and the ads reflect that idea.