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Google launched an extensive marketing campaign in Australia this week highlighting the integration of real estate listings and Google Maps.
The star of the new campaign is a character named “Peg Man,” who is seen in videos searching Sydney for a home. (Example below). The search giant is also teaming with of Sydney’s largest agents, LJ Hooker, to dot the city with life-size versions of the pins found marking locations on Google Maps.
Google also announced that more than 1,000 property sites in Australia and New Zealand are now using Google Maps. Since formally launching its real estate service last summer, the search giant has achieved “really deep listings” and is finding support from a wide variety of agencies in Australia, Google product manager Andrew Foster said at a press conference.
But two of the biggest players in Australia—Realestate.com.au (REA Group) and Fairfax Media’s Domain—are still refusing to cooperate, executives acknowledge.
“It is not surprising given the dominance of Google in the search space and the strength of its brand,” Ashley Rigg writes on Global Edge. “If Google can get to a position where it can match the content of its rivals, it could do some severe damage to the pricing power of portals, particularly the smaller players.”
For more on the implications of Google’s rise in real estate, click here.
