Not many estate agents venture into the expensive world of TV advertising, and even fewer make much of an impression with the public.
But online estate agent HouseSimple appears to have cracked it with its new ‘Who’s Derek?’ campaign, which warm-heartedly embraces the unfashionable name of Derek.
Its hilarious 30-second advert, which as well as underlining the speed of its sales and taking a pot-shot at Purplebricks’ fee structure, has been met with mirth and approval online from members of the public.
The TV campaign has also been backed by HouseSimple with an offer to sell anyone’s home for free if they are called Derek, dropping its usual £995 ‘no sale, no fee’ charges for the dwindling number of Dereks in the UK if they sign up before the end of June.
“For all those Dereks out there who dream of one day seeing their name rise to prominence again, we’re delighted to do our little bit to help raise their profile,” says HouseSimple CEO Sam Mitchell, who previous role was Head of Lettings at Rightmove.
His PR stunt may be counting on the unpopularity of the name Derek to prevent too many people taking up the firm’s free offer.
Derek is currently the 281st most popular name in the UK, according to the ONS, and was most common during the late 1980s.
But recent research by an online pregnancy advice service found that Derek was one of 36 names that have all but disappeared from the UK’s register of births.
The ad, which was made by director Brad Lupin from London agency MindsEye, has garnered a significant response on social media via the hashtag #whosderek, including one Twitter post which said the advert had them in “stitches” (see above) while on YouTube it has been hailed as the “best TV advert so far this year”.
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