Fictional Biographies Create Marketing Buzz

To attract targeted buyers to The River Club, its gated golf course community in Suwanee, Ga., Crescent Resources has run a series of two-page advertisements describing targeted residents Jack, Claire, Patrick and Robert in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

All four people are fictional.

Jack is a mischievous 3-year-old, Claire a refined young mother, Patrick a work-at-home entrepreneur and avid fisherman, and Robert a golf lover who “doesn’t own a watch.” Each ad concludes with the tag line “could only live at The River Club.”

The ads have run since January 2003, but the results have been so impressive that there are no plans to change them for 2004, says Kim Hardcastle, executive director of public relations at Atlanta-based Denmark Ad-vertising & Public Relations, the ads’ creator. During the campaign’s first two months, 18 of the 400 home sites were reserved. As of mid-December, monthly traffic averaged 150 visitors, and only 43 of the 163 home sites released during the first two phases remained on the market, says Susan Shenefield, The River Club’s sales and marketing coordinator.

The buyer profile is affluent adults, 40 to 65, who seek a tranquil setting and can afford homes priced from the $900,000s.