BNP Paribas Real Estate is the commercial property consultancy arm of BNP Paribas. It specialises in property management, investment management, valuations, transactions and property development. Strategy – broader business issues the company is facing
The recession hit BNP Paribas Real Estate’s clients and its sector hard.
Property markets came to a standstill. Development stagnated. BNP Paribas Real Estate’s clients have money to invest but there is little product to invest in. New tenants are thin on the ground and existing tenants are vacating properties at an alarming rate.
The Waste campaign focused on the logistics sector – traditionally comprised of large retailers, or third party logistics companies such as DHL utilising warehouses of several thousand square feet. Many such properties are being vacated, with few companies coming forward to take new leases.
The challenge was clear: find a new niche in this market to enable investors and developers to turn empty or under-performing real estate into profit.
Objectives of the campaign
BNP Paribas Real Estate operates as a trusted partner for its clients, leveraging its thought leadership – often in the form of research – for their commercial gain.
The company’s Logistics Strategy Group picked up an emerging trend. A number of major UK properties had been purchased by businesses in the waste industry. Companies that hadn’t, until this point, been active in the sector. BNP Paribas Real Estate investigated, examining the drivers behind these purchases, and spotted an opportunity none of its competitors had identified.
The Waste Research highlighted key trends in commercial waste and recycling, and flagged up EU and UK directives that signalled the dawn of an emerging and increasingly lucrative market for BNP Paribas Real Estate’s clients.
In short: the demand to stop dumping in landfill and to generate energy from waste is set to increase. There are limited sites suitable to house the required recycling plant other than large, out of town, warehouses. Moreover, because of EU directives, the waste industry is looking to take out long-term leases on strong covenants at a time when traditional players in logistics are looking no further than the next five years.
At a time of market stagnation this new opportunity is highly prized. BNP Paribas Real Estate launched the research at an industry event, feeding the research into industry and national press. This was followed by a targeted email campaign and direct mail.
The research was promoted in BNP Paribas Real Estate’s monthly e-newsletter, Logistics Matters, with a lead article and supporting download. This newsletter is targeted at institutional investors, developers and occupiers.
The business also featured the research in an additional newsletter, Value Matters, for clients in the banking sector.
Emails were monitored and results instructed the next phase of marketing, which was to target interested parties to establish meetings and monetise the thought leadership.
This activity created a buzz in the industry and has enabled BNP Paribas Real Estate to present to major clients and prospects with spectacular results.
Just a few months in, four clients have instructed the business to acquire sites. Each property represents an investment of £100m. With agency fees of 1%, this brings £4m back to the business.
Additionally, a major international bank is setting up a fund that BNP Paribas Real Estate will manage: investing money in waste by acquiring sites, and bringing in tenants.
The target audience
Existing clients and prospects; segmented into occupiers, institutional investors and developers. Additionally, the business’s banking client base was targeted.
The challenge in reaching this market is demonstrating research is both credible and of value. Traditionally, competitors’ research monitors established trends. Highlighting emerging opportunities is unusual – BNP Paribas Real Estate had to cut through the noise and present itself as a credible source of market analysis and prediction.
Over 2,000 clients were targeted during the five months of the campaign.
Media, channel or techniques used
A combination of events, press activity, direct mail, email and presentations.
BNP Paribas Real Estate presented at a flagship industry event, and hosted a reception; findings were fed into the press and gained substantial coverage in both trade and national titles. Following the event, hard copies of the research were sent as direct mail to 1,000 key clients, and an email campaign was launched.
Four emails were sent over five months. The first Logistics Matters newsletter was emailed, and with each further step in the process the client base was segmented and filtered – based on campaign results – with the goal of setting up meetings.
Timescales of the campaign
October, 2009: Research launched at flagship event. Key findings fed into the press, and first email sent to BNP Paribas clients and prospects. Hard copies of research printed and mailed to 1,000 key clients/prospects
October, 2009 – March, 2010: Three subsequent emails sent. Results analysed and targets identified. Marketing activity focused on turning this interest into profit through face-to-face meetings designed to win business.
Ongoing: Presentations taking place. Four clients have instructed BNP Paribas Real Estate to acquire sites. One international bank is setting up a fund for the business to manage.
Results
Two thousand emails sent. Over 1200 clients viewed the articles, with a further 100 downloading the full report.
Seven months later, BNP Paribas Real Estate has generated £4m from business arising directly from the campaign. Further high value deals are being negotiated but remain confidential.
Client testimonial
“Concep was integral to this campaign’s success. Email was not the only element, but it had to work in consort with an event, press work, DM and face-to-face meetings. It had to fit with our brand and its values.
The research is cutting edge, it focuses on an emerging market and for us to be able to leverage it to benefit the business it had to appear credible, trustworthy and timely.
The email campaign went without a hitch. We could immediately track results and never had anything less than a 360º view of what targets were doing with our information. This level of insight was invaluable when initiating client meetings and was an essential ingredient in our ability to secure lucrative contracts.” Matt Allen, marketing manager, BNP Paribas
