Tonight’s the Night

27 Apr 2012 2 Comments

by John Amardeil in Activities, Awards

It’s almost time: in only a few hours, at 6 pm tonight, almost everyone in the industry will arrive, spiffed up and ready to have a good time, to the Paramount Event Venue on Weston and Highway 407.

The occasion? 2012’s BILD Awards.

Having already blogged about BAM’s list of nominations, (and having also campaigned for you to vote for Pathways as the winner of the new People’s Choice Award), all I can I say at this point is that we’re really excited about our nominations, and hope we’ll take a bunch of prizes home!

Oh, and I should probably warn you — we’re bringing noise makers.

Will we see you at the Awards tonight?

Review of BILD’s Low-Rise Forum

29 Mar 2012 1 Comment

by John Amardeil in Activities, Strategies

If you follow me on Twitter, you probably know already that I was a guest speaker yesterday at BILD’s Low Rise Forum, which saw us discuss diversity in the GTA.

I love these events. They give me a chance to chat with old acquaintances and industry people. I also get to learn from my fellow guest speakers.

Yesterday, for example, Andrew Brethour of the PMA Brethour Realty Group provided interesting insights into why so many people from all over the world move to Canada.

He also did a pretty good job of reminding us all of the many reasons why we’re so lucky to live in this country and specifically in Toronto. Andy is quite the inspiring speaker and it was a pleasure to listen to him.

John Amardeil speaks at the BILD Low-Rise Forum on March 28, 2012.

I had a blast with my presentation. I believe in keeping it short and sweet and fun. What’s your approach like?

Later, Susan Wong of Markham Centre Realty. Inc. provided us with a most detailed analysis of immigration from mainland China, and the reasons why so many Chinese buy real estate here.

Susan also said there’s still a lot of room for condo prices to rise in Toronto — she even produced a chart showing that despite our increased prices we’re not among the ten most expensive cities in the world. I found it interesting that Vancouver, London and Singapore join Toronto as the preferred overseas investment locations for Chinese millionaires.

Lastly, Jenny Park of The Epoch Times provided listeners with a great summary on how to market to Chinese buyers. Jenny said 74% of all Chinese Canadians consume media in Chinese.

As for my own presentation, I am attaching it as a PowerPoint file (click this link: BAM Ethnic Marketing). Or you can read the following summary of key points:

  • In 2004, Toronto was ranked second in the list of world cities with the largest percentage of foreign-born population
  • Most newcomers arrive from China, India, the Philippines, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka
  • An increasing amount of immigrants are settling in the 905 area rather than Toronto. Indeed, the city with the highest proportion of foreign born among all Canadian municipalities is… Markham
  • We at BAM strongly believe that you can only sell if you know your markets and your target thoroughly. Sounds obvious, but time and again I’ve come across campaigns that neglect this. Check out my presentation for examples of communities we marketed to a very specific demographic after carrying out a great deal of research. They include:
  1. Castlegate, in East Brampton (targeted to Indians),
  2. Woodside Village, in Scarborough (targeted to Sri Lankans),
  3. Vellore Park, in Woodbridge (targeted to Italians), and
  4. Greenbrook Village in Shelburne, targeted to “white flight” (I explain in my presentation how I was wrong about the target market here!).

What’s your experience targeting diverse communities in the GTA?

Welcome To My Google+ Profile

07 Oct 2011 Leave a comment

by John Amardeil in Activities

Having blogged here and here about Google+, it was only fitting I create my own Google+ profile. This is in addition to my Twitter account and this blog.

Despite a promising start, there’s no guarantee that Google+ will take off. (Read this thoughtful article by someone who thinks it will, and read the comments below the article by people who think it won’t.)

One way or the other, it’s my duty as a marketer to explore all possible venues that may help our clients spread their message. Especially when so many potential homeowners start their search online.

With that in mind, my intentions are:

• to explore the new platform,

• to spread BAM’s message further,

• to share links and comments, and lastly,

• to see whether it will be practical to create Google+ accounts for our clients (whenever Google allows business pages to be created).

As a side note, I found no GTA-based builders on Google+. Neither could I find many GTA-based marketers or advertisers. Younger realtors are the one group of people in the industry who seem to have embraced the new platform.

So if you’re on Google+ and read this blog, add me to your stream!

A BAM Christmas

23 Dec 2010 Leave a comment

by John Amardeil in Activities

I always enjoy the festivities at this time of the year, and it’s a great opportunity to share laughter and joy with people that you see everyday – my team at BAM, of course! We’ve had an exciting and busy year at BAM, and at our Christmas party this year it was great to kick back and relax, enjoying each others’ company in a way we don’t get to do every day.

Our Christmas party took place at the Miller Tavern in Toronto last Friday, where we enjoyed great food, great drinks, great company and a fun gift exchange game. It was a good night for everyone to bond with each other, and it brought the BAM family closer.

I couldn’t have asked for a better team this past year, and BAM wouldn’t have had such a successful year without this team and, of course, our wonderful clients. As we move on to the New Year, BAM will continue to grow, which I’m excited about, and we’ll keep making the juice!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us at BAM. We hope you have wonderful holidays and spend cherished time with your loved ones.

Finalists Named for 2010 CHBA National SAM Awards

17 Dec 2010 Leave a comment

by John Amardeil in Activities, In The Media Tags: , , , , , , , ,

The Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA) has announced the finalists for the 2010 CHBA National SAM Awards, which celebrate excellence in new homes and renovation design, innovative technology and construction techniques, outstanding presentation, and marketing activities across Canada. We’re excited that two of our clients had the honour and distinction of being nominated, and that we could help them achieve this level of excellence.

Empire Communities is up for the Green Home Award for their innovation in green home building, including the recent debut of their ECO2 program, which BAM designed and launched. This program is ground-breaking in its focus on homeowner empowerment and education, including seminars and a video helping new homeowners learn about all the benefits and features of their ECO2 homes. Every Empire home is now built to the specifications of the ECO2 program, meaning homes are ENERGY STAR-qualified and include many other energy-saving features, such as Cent-a-Meters to track energy consumption in real time, solar ready rough-ins and more. The homes can also be upgraded with Empire’s ECOnomical and ECOlogical packages. You can read our Case Study of the campaign here.

Brookfield Homes is nominated for best website for www.thevillageniagara.com, a site for its community The Village in Niagara-on-the-Lake. BAM was responsible for the creative, concept and production of this website and we’re pleased to see it earning distinction. The website is designed to be useful, easy to navigate and interactive, and includes exciting features on the homepage to draw visitors in, like a photo slideshow, links to social media sites, upcoming calendar events, special inventory deals and other incentives, recent blog posts, a virtual tour of the neighbourhood and model homes, the opportunity to sign up for community updates, and more. You can read our Case Study of the website here.

Brookfield was also nominated for the Grand SAM Award, an award presented to the new home builder who best combines excellence in both the building and marketing of new homes. Brookfield credited BAM with the creative, concept and production of the work for the marketing campaign they’re nominated for, their new community in Caledon East, Pathways. BAM helped Pathways stand out as an exceptional new community that would appeal to families. We divided the community into six unique neighbourhoods, and designed a map showing several pathways winding their way through the community – a path for all passions, from biking and jogging to a dog walkers’ trail and stroller loop. We did gorgeous renderings of the two parks that the community will feature, as well as a stunning streetscape rendering. We also developed other benefits for the community to offer, like Brookfield’s “Green” Saver program. You can read our Case Study of the community’s marketing campaign here.

Awards will be announced in late February, 2011. Good luck to Empire Communities and Brookfield Homes!

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