No, at the moment the market situation for the real estate industry is not that positive. And the Nuremberg area is no exception, although, comparatively speaking, with some 5% of the office space unoccupied (4.7% in the first half of 2004), it managed to get through the cyclical sluggishness pretty well. As a logical consequence of the existing surplus, an aggressive price war has ensued that, with rents of 5 euros and less per square meter, is only now appearing to gradually bottom out. It is also logical that, due to price dumping, the margins for development and leasing threaten to shrink to a minimum.

Under these circumstances, is there any leeway at all for a coordinated marketing concept? Does office space necessarily have to go onto the market at the lowest price? And, in this situation, is communication not merely another cost factor that might conceivably be the first item to be eliminated?

Change of scene: At the corner of Bayreuther Strasse and Pirckheimer Strasse in Nuremberg, a new office/commercial building, which is evidently quite successfully defying the crisis, is causing lots of talk – the “Parcside,” a project of Haffer and Hermes GmbH & Co. KG, a subsidiary of the renowned Hermesbau. Four months after completion of the building, the leasing rate is currently (November 2004) around 40%. On closer inspection, this is an astonishing rate, since, with monthly per-meter prices ranging between 11.75 and 13.00 Euro, Parcside does not even seem to fit into the surrounding landscape at all. What then are the reasons for this success in light of market trends?

The thing that links Parcside to other successful objects in the region can be distilled down to a single common denominator: a strong, unmistakable and credible identity. As with all good products, the mix of factors that are decisive for success must also be present for real estate – the right location, a clear definition of potential renters, clear communication of the added value linked to the object, targeted addressing of the target group, and an appropriate means of marketing.
 
For this reason, in the case of the cited real estate, it is not the enviable location alone – directly adjacent to the Nuremberg City Park and close to the city center – but rather an entire range of aspects that is responsible for the successful marketing:

  • an early and consistent focusing on a target group that fit the object – in the case of Parcside, this was supported by an emphasis on its benefit as a modern wellness center

  • the communication of a clearly recognizable, emotional added value – since location decisions, even in the age of extreme cost consciousness, are made not only with the head, but also with an appropriate “gut” feeling

  • clear brand management, in which the property, similar to a consumer product, is characterized by its name, positioning, and benefit arguments

  • a systematically planned and professionally implemented communications concept for making the first contact with – and the securing and binding of – interested parties who are appropriate for the object.

Clearly, communication then means much more than running advertisements or designing flyers and Internet pages. It is a strategic task in which the communications agency, as consultant, “helmsman” and controller, should pull the strings. In spite of this, or precisely because of it, however, the cooperation and commitment of all involved parties, from the investor to the architect, and even the agent, is so decisive for the success. Only when all of them pull together, when they all develop and support the positioning, will a sustainable and permanent foundation for marketing emerge. Only in this way does leasing become what is almost a logical consequence of the right concept. Timely workshops and regular success controlling are part of this systematic approach.

Parcside is not the only property – there is a whole array of other properties in the metropolitan area – that shows us how the price, which seems to be the overriding factor in decision-making, can be made significantly less important by means of coherent marketing concepts. If the marketing mix is right – and communications is a part of this – one’s perception is shifted toward the specific benefit of the location and the real estate.

Every potential renter certainly has the right to put this location to the acid test from an economic angle, but it is decisive that, by combining rational and emotional factors in the right way, images and preferences will have already been created prior to this. Whoever says “I want this” may also look at the price. But such persons will no longer make the price the determining factor of a long-term decision about the location for their company, their bar, their office or their practice.