Transforming Tradition: A Modern Approach to Groundbreaking Ceremonies in Commercial Real Estate

Client
Lantree Developments

Industries
Real Estate, Banking and Professional Services

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R&J harnesses a multichannel approach to introduce Canadian commercial real estate investment group’s newest project to Jersey City.

Abstract

For decades, groundbreaking ceremonies have been celebrated to mark the beginning of a development project and to thank those who made it possible. While the purpose of a groundbreaking event hasn’t changed how CRE companies can leverage the milestone and their investment has evolved. By partnering with R&J Strategic Communications, the West Side Square Development Fund leveraged the groundbreaking of its first luxury multifamily project in the United States to increase marketplace awareness and project visibility in a crowded real estate market.

The West Side Square Development Fund tapped R&J Strategic Communications to plan a groundbreaking for West Side Square, its first luxury multifamily project in the United States. R&J Strategic Communications utilized a strategic blend of earned, owned, and shared content to garner significant visibility for the milestone in a crowded real estate market and lay a solid foundation for the client’s continued work in the market.

Client Challenge

Any experienced developer knows that the path from initial project vision to shovels in the ground is typically not an easy one and can often take several years. As was the case for West Side Square Development Fund (WSSDF), a commercial real estate investment group led by four leading Canadian commercial real estate firms (LanTree Development,Lanterra Developments, Altree Developments and Westdale Properties) as they sought to bring West Side Square, a 477-unit luxury mixed-use building to the Jersey City market. Navigating a pandemic, supply chain shortages and resulting in numerous project multiyear delays, the primarily Canadian-based development team also faced the challenge of limited regional brand recognition compared to other developers operating in the Jersey City marketplace.

Strategy & Execution

With nearly 40 years of commercial real estate communications and marketing experience, R&J would leverage its unique understanding of the development process and landscape to create an integrated market strategy to increase awareness of the West Side Square project. Behind this integrated marketing approach, R&J would establish a strong brand position for the project and the development group within the New Jersey commercial real estate market. The strategy included a multichannel mix of:

Earned Media

Earned media comprises the tactics and tools – press releases, media alerts, interviews – that generally come to mind with the mention of public relations. For West Side Square, the R&J CRE team leveraged its deep contacts in the local and regional media as well as CRE and business trade publications securing 23 media placements including Real Estate NJ, Jersey Digs, NJ.com/The Jersey Journal, WMBC-TV, TapInto Jersey City, and RENX.ca, Canada’s leading real estate publication.

Owned Media

Aiming to go beyond the traditional PR tactics that make up earned media, R&J embraced owned media, content created and controlled by an organization that can be leveraged across both earned and shared channels like social media.

R&J worked with its video partner, Lasso Creative, and a photographer on a plan to capture speeches and the ceremonial groundbreaking. Additionally, the R&J team conducted recordings of onsite interviews with key executives from the firms making up the WSSDF. Lasso then created a short video sizzle reel with the footage from the event and the onsite interviews to be leveraged across tactics following the event.

Shared Media

The final leg of R&J’s strategy for the event revolved around shared media which are the assets that are distributed through social media platforms to leverage audience engagement and interactions to amplify reach and visibility.

R&J’s earned and owned media assets were shared widely across the social media pages for the four entities making up the WSSDF as well as executives and key project leaders. In addition, the assets were shared in email messages sent to investors and project partners to further highlight the event and drive buzz as it neared vertical construction.