Zillow Finds New Home in Portlandia

Augusta Quirk/IFC

Real estate website Zillow has found a home in Portlandia.

In Thursday night's episode of the IFC comedy, characters played by Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen are looking for a new home after completing renovations on their current house. That created an integration opportunity for Zillow, based in Seattle.

According to Amy Bohutinsky, chief marketing officer at Zillow, the company had previously done integrations only in real estate oriented shows, such as American Dream Builders and programs on Scripps Networks Interactive's HGTV and DIY.

This is the first time we've done an integration in a more broad show, but it was an episode about shopping for a home, so it was just a wonderful fit and really true to our brand. And it's really funny too, Bohutinsky said.

With more shows being watch on a delayed basis either using DVRs or on demand, marketers are looking for ways to avoid having their commercials skipped, fast forwarded or otherwise ignored. But putting brands within show content helps networks make TV a more attractive advertising option. Usually, the integration is part of a bigger ad buy with the network with which it's working.

Zillow started doing TV advertising two and a half years ago and last year increased its ad spending to about $75 million. This year's budget is similarly significant and certainly we're going after high-profile placement opportunities and doing some new things to reach audiences, Bohutinsky said, including buying commercials during ABC's Oscar broadcast.

Integrations are something that have been part of our brand advertising strategy for the past year when we can find the right one, she said.

Zillow advertised on IFC last year and found it reached a good demographic. Zillow looks at its web traffic and whether its visitors are home buyers and if those homebuyers contact real estate agents. We were really happy with our work with IFC last year, Bohutinsky said.

During the episode, there are two integrations. In one, Brownstein and Armisen talk about using Zillow to find a house. In the other they can be seen looking at listings on Zillow on their computers.

Portlandia offers advertisers the opportunity to creatively integrate into one of television's most talked about comedies, said Blake Callaway, IFC's executive VP of marketing & digital media. When brands visit Portlandia they are guaranteed to get something funny that is worth sharing. We couldnt be happier that Zillow is an even bigger part of the new season.

Bohutinsky said that after the episode airs, Zillow will look to extend the reach of the integration by pushing it via its social media, public relations and content marketing efforts to reach more potential customers.

We're really pleased with how Zillow is represented and how naturally we fit in the story line, she said.

LINK:	http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/currency/zillow-finds-new-home-p...
	See more stories from bandc

Most recent headlines