Developer Avanton has launched a new video collaboration with a leading property agent on popular social media platform TikTok. Bringing US-style marketing techniques to the developer’s flagship scheme Coda in Battersea, Avanton is delivering a series of apartment tour videos with the Corban Group to showcase the £120 million development to a new audience.

The new Avanton X Corban Group partnership on TikTok follows the launch and celebrity ‘test drive’ of Coda last Autumn, which saw young celebrities and influencers invited to stay the night at the newly completed development and post to their combined social media following of over 5 million people. By targeting TikTok, the fastest growing social media platform of all time, Avanton looks to showcase the lifestyle available at Coda and appeal to young professionals searching for their first home.

The Corban Group, led by independent agent Toby Albert-Corban, is affiliated with Nest Seekers International, the leading USA brokerage which appears on Netflix’s hit show Million Dollar Beach House. Known on TikTok by his handle @londonrealestate, Toby’s videos showcase London’s best properties for sale, with videos going viral to achieve millions of views. Since the first Coda tours have been posted, the agent has already received multiple genuine enquiries from buyers keen to view the development in person to learn more.

Toby began posting property tours on TikTok during the first national lockdown and found a captive audience, now boasting over 165,000 followers with 1.8 million likes across his content. Having lived and worked in the US for a decade, Toby is keen to bring social media marketing content to the London property market to offer brands and properties greater exposure and drive potential enquiries. This could also involve Toby exploring different means of marketing videos of the properties to a larger audience by moving to platforms other than TikTok. There are various communities online that offer exposure for video content; for example, people can buy and sell royalty free video content on newsflare, which can be made use of to reach a larger audience or targeted demographics through specific media platforms.
TikTok has been downloaded over 2 billion times globally (October 2020) and is the fastest growing social media network of all time, with hundreds of millions of users and a presence in 150 markets worldwide. The video sharing application allows users to post videos of up to 60 seconds long, with the number of UK users steadily growing and expected to reach 10 million in 2021. During the first national lockdown, the number of millennials using the app rapidly increased, with a quarter of all users now aged 20-29 years old. It is no doubt that video technology and social media have taken a major share in the marketing world. Animation service providers like https://donkermedia.nl/animatie-laten-maken are also in great demand for creating marketing videos that catch the consumers’ attention.

Video property tours shared on the app can receive millions of views and shares, with both professional agents and individuals sharing glimpses of their homes paired with trending songs or video effects. As of March 2020, the hashtag #realestate has over 250 million views, whilst #luxuryhomes has 10.9 million views. While not all redevelopment projects use this method, it could be useful as many areas are looking at improving their options (be it for homes, holiday lets or other kinds of property developers like Peter Hall Middlesbrough and the like have been working on) for advertisement.

Two video tours of Coda have been posted so far, one featuring the newly completed residents’ lobby and the other a show apartment by Gordon Duff Linton, with a combined 120,000 views and over 7,500 likes. The video series plans to capture the unveiling of the residents’ amenities including the gym and landscaped podium gardens soon to be revealed. Coda was the best-selling scheme in South West London of 2020, with Phase 1 completely sold out and the first residents moved in.

David Ronson, Sales & Marketing Director at Avanton, says: “Following our hugely successful celebrity ‘test drive’ event for Coda, exploring content on another social media platform is a natural progression. TikTok is the fastest ever growing social media platform and with a rapidly increasing audience it is fantastic to have our brand and Coda showcased. We look forward to the Avanton X Corban video series capturing exciting new milestones for the development. Although social media content will not replace traditional marketing, it is important for the property industry to react to new platforms and Avanton are proud to be leading the way.”

Toby Albert-Corban, founder of Corban Group (part of Nest Seekers International) says: “The national lockdown restrictions have called for creativity in marketing property and I saw the opportunity to bring US-style marketing techniques to the London prime market. TikTok’s technology is very user-friendly and straight forward, meaning if someone views a property video they like they can easily share it by message, email or link with a friend, with less hassle compared to some virtual property tours on websites. Coda is a fantastic development offering high-quality homes and it is great to see the genuine enquiries and positive engagement from our first videos.”

Located on a large 2.1-acre island site between York Road and York Place, moments from the River Thames, Coda is designed by Pankaj Patel MBE of multi-award-winning practice Patel Taylor, a leader in Thameside architecture. Three striking apartment buildings sit on a raised podium above the new Royal Academy of Dance headquarters on the ground floor, with the iconic dance school set to move in 2021. Every home has a designer Poggenpohl kitchen, with open-plan living space, a private balcony or terrace and access to landscaped residents’ gardens.