Going from a “Sea of Sameness” to “Dominating the Category”

Before Apartments.com, finding a place to rent often meant a dark journey through a patchwork of dubious websites, mom-and-pop regional services and the shadiest place on the Internet: Craigslist. Apartments.com needed to rise above and establish itself as the first destination for apartment-seekers across the nation. RPA was tasked with disrupting the entire landscape, and helping Apartments.com become the website people seek out first, rather than simply come across on a Google search.

Our insight was that most everything about moving into a new apartment is gratifying and amazing and exciting — except the process of finding that new apartment, which could be painful, anxiety-ridden and frustrating. Apartments.com could simplify all that for people, giving them one amazing place to go to when they’re looking for a place.

Tech gurus are everywhere these days, sharing visions of the future brought to life today. Our platform stands out by having some fun with this archetype, with Jeff Goldblum uniquely bring the character of “Brad Bellflower, inventor of the Apartminternet” to life.

It’s a cliché that every tech visionary says their product will “change the world.” But in this case, the product really does lead to changing people’s worlds: new environments, new neighbors, new friends, and new places to explore and visit. All powered by a state-of-the-art platform that makes the process easier and less stressful.

In fact, the campaign began life with the tagline, “Change your apartment, change the world” — but as the brand grew and evolved, we evolved too (or, “pivoted” as Brad Bellflower might say) and we took advantage of our now-leadership position in the category to simply be “The place to find a place.”

The campaign has become a long-running success that helped Apartments.com become #1 — with several competitors deciding it would be easier to sell themselves to Apartments.com rather than try to compete against them.