Title	OUR NEIGHBOURHOOD
Brand	DANBOLIG
Product/Service	OUR NEIGHBOURHOOD
Category	A10. Data Integration
Entrant	MAGNETIX LINKED BY ISOBAR Copenhagen, DENMARK
Idea Creation	MAGNETIX LINKED BY ISOBAR Copenhagen, DENMARK
Media Placement	MAGNETIX LINKED BY ISOBAR Copenhagen, DENMARK
Production	MAGNETIX LINKED BY ISOBAR Copenhagen, DENMARK

Name	Company	Position
Maria Louise Poulsen	Magnetix linked by Isobar	Project Manager
Emil Munch Jørgensen	Magnetix Linked by Isobar	Digital Designer
Dennis Johansen	Magnetix Linked by Isobar	Developer
Morten Kold	Magnetix Linked by Isobar	Executive Creative Director
Jeppe Schamburg Jensen	Magnetix Linked by Isobar	Frontend Developer
Søren Toft Pedersen	Magnetix Linked by Isobar	Senior SEO Consultant
Jonas Svejgaard Henriksen	Magnetix Linked by Isobar	Senior Consultant
Andreas Krantz Backe	Magnetix Linked by Isobar	Media Director
Ulrik Mailand	Magnetix Linked by Isobar	Alliance Director
Josefine Eliasson	Magnetix Linked by Isobar	Senior Art Director

Why is this work relevant for Creative Data?

Most real estate websites simply show houses – but what people are really looking for is a home. That’s why Danish real estate agent danbolig created “Our Neighborhood” – a digital destination where you can explore the neighborhood before you buy. The solution integrates sociodemographic data (through Geomatic API), weather data, data from Central Business Registry, Statistics Denmark, real estate market data – and crowdsourced content from the people who already live there. The digital platform seamlessly connects house listings to these data insights to give a unique description of the people, places and peculiarities of the neighborhood.

Background

Most real estate websites simply show houses – bricks, rooms, square ft. But what people are really looking for is a home, including all the things surrounding the house: What kind of people live there? How’s the shopping, the culture, the school disctrict? That’s the reason why Danish real estate agent danbolig created “Our Neighborhood” – a digital destination where you can get to know your prospective neighborhood intimately before you buy a home, through the combined power of big data insights and crowdsourced content from the people who already live there and love it. The objective was to create a unique market differentiator for real estate agent danbolig to convince private sellers of real estate to choose them as their agent. danbolig.dk is now the only real estate agent in Denmark that gives the seller the possibility to not only sell a house but also everything around the house.

Describe the idea/data solution

While the strategy and objective was to 1) create a platform to engage sellers and 2) take advantage of the content gap in the market around ‘local areas’, the creative solution centers on a strong promise for the future: Our neighborhood – we’re not just looking for a house, but for a place to live. So instead of simply adding small “tips from the seller” on the listing, we decided to make the concept a true digital destination for buyers. The ONLY place to go in Denmark if you want to know about the neighbourhood. The solution: 1. An interactive map, where users can navigate between counties and neighborhoods – intuitively and fluidly. At county level, you get an overview of the most important macro information: What’s the tax rate? What’s the population? What’s the weather like? At a neighborhood level, you can see ‘pins’ created by users as well as the the real estate agents and sellers, showcasing the best day care facilities, shops, running routes etc. 2. A detailed neighborhood description page outlining what daily life is like in the area. What newspapers are most widely read, most popular hobbies, political leanings, most cherished values and beliefs.

Describe the data driven strategy

Just a few years ago, real estate agents danbolig was a clear leader in the market, largely based on an innovative search engine. Since then, all competitors have copied their platform. How could we find a way to stand out that offered true added value, not just a gimmick? What would buyers and sellers actually want? Our initial strategy and research phase, including interviews and extensive SEO analysis, uncovered two central insights: 1. Buyers want more in-depth and unique knowledge about the home they’re about to buy – not just the house. All listings are filled with clichés, all houses have “amazing views” and “vibrant neighborhood”. But SEO analysis shows that people are searching for things to do in the area, what kind of people live there, etc. SEO analysis also showed there was an unclaimed space for the search terms around property in connection with narrowly defined geographic area – actual neighbourhoods. 2. Sellers want more control and ability to influence their sale. They have unique insights into what’s great about their home, but no platform to present it. If the sale drags out, untapped potential turns to frustration that “the agents don’t do enough to sell my home”.

Describe the creative use of data, or how the data enhanced the creative output

This lead to the idea of a platform that would give the seller a place to promote all the fantastic things in the neighborhood you become a part of when moving to a new home. Simply put, we wanted to give every house in Denmark a unique “local area description page.” But what then, of the inevitable empty pages for listings where the agent or seller didn’t have time to add insights or selling points? This question led to the idea of taking unique auto-generated content based on 3rd party data sources and combining it with user-generated content. To do this, we made a partnership with Geomatic (a provider of “soft” data around the people actually living in the specific neighborhoods – such as typical sparetime activities, hobbies, which shows watched on TV etc.) to have tangible data that could give a real feel for the neighborhood.

List the data driven results

In the first 3 months since launching Our neighborhood, the number of bookings for appraisals (the key kpi for attracting sellers) have gone up by 9% compared to same period last year.. Number of bookings for showings have gone up by 6,3%. And most significantly, number of lead contacts for agents, the primary measurement of interest in the market, have gone up by 58,3%, marking a significant increase in the presence of danbolig in the minds of prospective sellers.