Five years ago, HotPads General Manager Doug Pope was living in a house with all seven of his employees trying to get the resources to “make HotPads big.” It was then a little-known brand figuring out its niche in the crowded rentals-search space.

Doug and his team had been chipping away at developing products that helped urban renters connect with great multifamily properties, but they were having a heck of a time scaling. Then, they joined up with Zillow Group. And, as Doug says, “The rest is history.”

Today, HotPads is Zillow Group’s multifamily-first brand. Doug and his growing team have spent the last five years hyper-focused on developing great products: robust notifications, commute-time search and response time for a given property, among others.

“What do you do better than anyone else?”

While Doug was leaning into delivering the best possible products to consumers and multifamily professionals, his brand was becoming bigger based on its quality products alone — but HotPads was still searching for its place in the rentals space.

“Leadership would ask us, ‘What is HotPads? What do you do better than anyone else in the market?’ We were focused on building really awesome tools for renters and property managers. After five years, we finally found ourselves a little bit of a niche: urban millennial renters.”

Unique audience. Unique needs.

Urban millennial renters have specific needs, and HotPads was meeting them. Inventory in their markets moves fast, so they need information at light speed. They also like knowing what to expect from property managers after they contact them.

“Wherever they are in the world, we’re going to get our information to these renters,” Doug says, which is why he was so focused on getting notifications right, adding response times and creating a suite of other products targeted to this audience.

Today, nearly 90 percent of HotPads’ audience is urban, millennial renters. About 50 percent are in the nation’s top 10 metros, and 80 percent of website visits are on a mobile device.

HotPads’ audience is also “really, really into digital and really, really into social,” Doug said: People ages 18-34 spend 60 percent more time on digital media than on live TV, and 9 in 10 people ages 18-29 use social media.

It’s the right time for HotPads advertising

From the inception of his company 12 years ago to July 2017, “We didn’t spend one dime on marketing,” he said. However, after 2016 turned into HotPads’ biggest growth year, it was time for that to change. It was time to build on the momentum and double down on growing the HotPads brand.

Before the team could start marketing anything, they needed to understand their audience at a deeper level, so they performed significant qualitative research into urban millennial renters. They discovered that the rental search process is “a double-edged sword.”

Renters are stressed out. But there are moments of joy during the search for an apartment.

Renters are in a hurry to get through what can be a painful process. They are trying to figure out what they can afford, how close it is to work or whether it’s in their desired neighborhood. But, when they score a place that has a washer and dryer for the first time, or they find a pad in their price range, that is an incredible moment.

The creative

Doug describes HotPads as the “bad boy” of rentals. This, combined with the consumer insights they discovered turned into two digital test campaigns that emphasis those moments of joy. Why digital? Because that’s where urban renters spend their time.

“We’re launched the HotPads ads with two campaigns,” Doug said. “Pads That Are Hot uses a ‘hot’ sign that directs apartment shoppers to keywords or images that are hot in rentals, such as a washer and dryer or being pet-friendly.

He continued, 'The second, Go Ahead. Rent Around is a little more tongue and cheek and taps into the mindset around dating and FOMO (fear of missing out) by encouraging renters to try something new to get to that moment of joy. It plays up the flexibility of the renting lifestyle.”

What’s next?

The campaigns launched in August, and the response has been “incredible,” Doug said.

“People are commenting like crazy,” he added. “There have been a lot of really positive responses. These renters are then coming to our site and connecting with multifamily listings. We are super excited, and you can expect a lot more from HotPads in 2018.”

Learn more about the new HotPads advertising campaign and see more creative here!