"Print ads have been eliminated"

NMHC recently released its NMHC 50, The Nation’s 50 Largest Apartment Owners and 50 Largest Apartment Managers , where it interviewed Equity Residential CEO, David Neithercut. In it, he made a surprisingly hard-line stance about the use, or lack thereof, of print ads:

“The fundamental relationship with the customer has changed—from start to finish,” asserts Neithercut. “Print ads have been eliminated. Now customers use the Internet to search for apartments and comparison shop, fill out applications, sign leases, pay their rent, log service requests, renew their leases, and tell you how they feel about their experience.”

I have not heard if he literally meant that Equity has stopped using print ads entirely, but I wanted to get thoughts from the MFI community!

Advertising is such a market and tenant-profile driven thing that blanket statements like this sound good, but are pretty meaningless. I can agree that in the higher-end communities in major markets, your tenants won't be finding you in a rental guide or a newspaper. If you're a C/B property in middle-America, there's a very good chance that they are. Clearly Internet penetration is increasing and the comfort level of both younger and older generations with online content, as well as the migration of news outlets to the web, point the way things are going, but until we have computer chips implanted in our heads at birth, there will always be a place for print in some markets at properties that serve a specific demographic.

I'm thinking we are probably a stew of conflict.

Considering that my Kindle is sitting on the kitchen counter next to my Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair magazines I think that daily we eke ever closer to the Tom Cruise movie "Minority Reports"...touch screen computers, personalized scanning inside of 'The Gap', Google alerts and Geo-Mapping.

I'm thinking that until the microchip is inserted, print will still be an option,and print providers will have to keep hustling to keep that option affordable.

Gotta go-I just got a google alert that my dog is outside of the yard again. You see, we had this chip injected into him...ohhhhh.

I don't believe print adds has been eliminated but I do believe that their purpose has changed. We see more and more print adds that now offer 3 types of call to action.

1/ Contact the community
2/ Make an online visit
3/ Make a visit to the magazine online listings

People want real time information, they are starting to understand that many communities change their prices all the time... Going online makes sense. I also can see where some like to grab a print magazine on the fly since they tend to be so widely distributed.

The web is without a doubt a primary way to connect with prospective residents today and I can see that print advertising is dying. The smart companies have already made a dramatice shift to online marketing strategies.
The last factor that is a challenge for print advertisers is how people are more "green" today. Many view paper waste as an issue and I can see how this will further create a challenge for print advertising.

Print advertising is not dead…but it may be on life support.
You probably hear that apartment print guides continue to drive significant, highly qualified and highly interested traffic. And there is incredible synergy when these print guides are used in combination with the same vendor’s online product. But you should remember who you are hearing that from—typically the print vendor reps—and take it with a huge grain of salt.

Even though some of the mega-owners have completely eliminated or significantly reduced print spending, there are still some markets, and some communities, where print can be very effective. But it’s highly unlikely that print would be the most effective source, and it should be used for additional traffic only when justified…not as the first media selection.

I find this very interesting. One would imagine that the type of advertising media used would depend on the market. I know some markets that online does not do well, specifically rural areas.

@charity I think your point is absolutely valid. advertising strategy is geographically sensitive. Generalities should not be made as far as this particular conversation. no one can deny the trends though.

If I were searching for an apartment, I would more than likely not use print ads. From the time someone calls in to have their ad printed in the next issue of the LA Times (or your local newspaper) to the morning you scour the Classifieds, a lot of things could have happened to change the situation. On the other hand, it's good online posting etiquette to take down a want ad once the vacancy has been filled, so if I see a listing that appeals to me, it will probably still be there when I call. I could also see whether the ad has been posted repeatedly or for an extended period of time (if no one else wants it, maybe there's good reason for me to reconsider...).

Besides, the internet has such pretty colors...

Dude. You crack me up.

While print is definately not the top dog any more, I still see a lot of people picking up the publications at distribution points. There still is this good percentage of people that want something tangible in their hands. I agree print is not as effective as it once was and those that remembers when it was pretty much the only "game in town" outside of newspaper (which went out when the publications took over). Nothing is permenant but change, and this is an adjustments we are seeing. They are definately not obsolete, just not number one any more.

PS: Drop print and I guarantee you, you will lose market share and leases. Maybe someday, but it ain't here yet.