Helping Woodlea Become the Fastest Selling Land Estate in Australia
Since its incredibly successful Sales Launch in 2015, Woodlea has been recognised as the most sought-after estate in Victoria’s west, continuing to achieve sell out success for many of its stages.
So, how did Woodlea establish such a prosperous and celebrated legacy?
In July 2014, the land owned by the Mirvac and Victorian Investments and Properties (VIP) Joint Venture in Rockbank was a proposed 7,000 lot masterplanned community in Melbourne’s west. It was dubbed the ‘next Caroline Springs’.
At this stage, only the Project Director and two Development Managers had been appointed but the vision process had been completed.
A Ministerial Launch, where the project would be essentially launched to the media and the industry, had been set for Wednesday 10 September 2014 (approximately nine weeks away) and the sales launch was expected in March 2015.
A number of local projects were in the planning phase and the race was on to be the first project to launch in this new western corridor. The recent history of land sales in Melton was not positive and the area was not achieving much price growth.
The ultimate goal was to achieve sell out success at the March 2015 launch.
Other goals included:
Establishing the Woodlea brand to the same high standards that had been set by all other Mirvac projects.
Demonstrating the Joint Venture partners’ commitment to excellence by hosting a well thought-out and executed Ministerial launch in September 2014.
Setting the project up for long-term success.
Having worked with Property Republic founder Judi Carr previously, Woodlea Project Director Matt Dean approached her in July 2014 to provide marketing assistance to deliver the Ministerial Launch in nine weeks.
The Approach
Phase 1 – Launch Event
With such a short turnaround time until the Ministerial Launch, Judi and the team got to work to map out what tasks needed to get done – and there was a big list.
Appoint the creative agency
Work with them on the brand identity
Get approval for the brand identity from both Joint Venture partners
Work with the development team on signage locations, the supplier and develop all messaging
Appoint a public relations agency to handle the launch including media coverage, Ministerial liaison, event creative and execution
Ensure there was a methodology to capture leads (as of 10 September) and then nurture those leads without assets having been developed
Develop the initial brochure in time for the launch and approved by both joint venture partners
Manage a guest list of 250 people, including V-Line train transport and a shuttle to take attendees from the train station to the site, plus merchandise and a variety of VIPs
Ensure the event had video and photography to ensure that key messages were captured and could form part of the overarching lead nurture strategy
Incredibly, each of these tasks was achieved in the short nine week timeline. Big contributors to this success were:
Exceptional account management by the creative agency, Hoyne, and signage partner, Briner
Appointing professional agencies to get all the jobs done, and clearly communicating roles and responsibilities
Thinking past the Ministerial Launch to the future of the project and creating content at every opportunity
Phase 2 – Sales Launch
Judi Carr continued to work with the Woodlea team until they appointed Marketing Manager (now Sales and Marketing Manager) Lora Armstrong in December 2014.
Once the majority of the project team was on board, Judi conducted a “Getting to Launch” workshop, where the team brainstormed all the things that needed to be done to ensure an exceptional customer experience, clear communication, an inviting sales centre and a sell-out project launch.
The team met weekly to ensure they were on track, with Judi keeping everyone accountable. It turned out that each team member was all over it!
Contributing to Woodlea’s positive outcomes was the project team’s commitment to providing a market leading customer experience. This commitment came from a shared goal that had been developed in the workshop, where it was agreed that everyone was accountable to each other.
The team collaborated to successfully provide customers with information sessions, one-on-one appointments, clear communication of the sales process and very realistic price ranges. Being open and honest with prospects like this is the way they should be treated, and had a big impact on the sense of trust established with the brand.
The Results
The level of interest at the Woodlea Sales Launch was so high that a ballot was conducted and oversubscribed. All of the 70 blocks available sold and then another 130 were sold over the next few weeks.
More than this, Woodlea was dubbed Australia’s fastest selling land estate nationwide for the December 2015 quarter. Averaging 81 sales per month in the December quarter, Woodlea outperformed its nearest competitor by over 50%.
Present day, Woodlea continues to achieve sell out success of its stage releases, and is recognised as the leading residential community in the west.
The Feedback
“We engaged Property Republic due to Judi Carr’s expertise in project marketing, strategic planning and industry reputation.
The brand, marketing and launch strategies Judi brought to the project, not only shaped a clear and efficient pathway for success, but exceeded all expectations with Woodlea being announced as the fastest selling project in Australia (January 2016).
Judi’s experience and ability to liaise with multiple stakeholders, create cohesive plans and accurately identify and allocate roles and responsibilities resulted in a positive and unified team approach.”
Matthew Dean
Project Director, Woodlea