Responses by Rob Baird, founder and chief creative officer, Preacher.

Background: StreetEasy is the undisputed home for New York City apartment rentals. But when it comes to buying and selling, there are tons of options out there. This campaign was meant to cement StreetEasy as a go-to for buyers and sellers, too, showcasing little-known features like StreetEasy Expert agents and home valuation tools that it now offers.

Design thinking: The past two years have been a wild ride for real estate, especially in NYC. In the frenzy of high stakes and fast moves, it’s easy to feel like you’re going to lose out, whether someone with a higher offer blocked you, hit a dead end with the co-op board or missed your turn because hundreds of others showed up earlier. It feels like a game where the cards are stacked against you and impossible to win on your own. But it’s a game everyone in NYC must play, and with StreetEasy, it’s a game anyone can win.

With new products to promote and three distinct audiences to speak to, we had a lot to say in this campaign. We chose the game board device, a quick “get” concept that also leaves plenty of room for detailed storytelling. Each of the three players—renters, buyers and sellers—are playing the same game of real estate but follow different paths to get to their home destination.

Visual influences: Once we landed on “Win the Game of Real Estate” as a tagline, we knew we wanted our ads to feel like a nostalgic game board. We drew inspiration from the games we grew up loving but also wanted to add a timeless element to the ads. Many games have fun, wit, humor and twists in the copy and visuals, so we wanted to keep those same elements while adding a little grit that would speak clearly to our NYC audience. Illustrator Jon Contino helped us land those visual twists and add that New York edge we were looking for. We felt if we could draw people into the campaign, they would understand how StreetEasy can help them win; then, they might discover something new on a second or third viewing.

Favorite details: There’s not a wasted space on the game board. Every component has an authentic grounding in NYC real estate with a charming twist, such as the radiator steam spelling out the words house warming or the unflappable pigeon holding the keys to your next apartment. We took extra care to tap into actual ground-level emotions felt during the NYC real-estate rollercoaster rather than pander to a stereotypical, surface-level understanding of the city.

Specific project demands: StreetEasy campaigns are hard to miss when they’re running. The ads are everywhere on subway cars, taxis, buses, bus stops and wild postings. As such, we needed work that could flex as a system from delivering engaging entertainment for a 20-minute subway ride takeover or hitting the main message in a matter of seconds on a cab driving by.

preacher.co