Cavoodle Ollie is helping to sell 15 Russell St, West Footscray.
A real estate campaign starring a talking cavoodle named Ollie has collared plenty of buyers’ attention.
Fur mum and marketing professional Allison Caruk said she devised an out-of-the-box advertising strategy to sell her West Footscray house, starring her five-year-old pooch.
Ms Caruk used AI voice-over technology to create a video narrated by Ollie who gives other dogs advice on how to get their owners to buy them a better house.
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Ollie tells how he formerly lived in an apartment until he persuaded Ms Caruk to find him a bigger pad complete with a backyard.
The video also showcases Ms Caruk’s four-bedroom home at 15 Russell St that’s on the market with a $1.36m-$1.46m range.
Ollie informs viewers that he and his owner are planning to move because his “mum” loves renovating and wants to makeover a new abode.
Ms Caruk said she was inspired to make the video featuring Ollie after seeing AI-powered dog videos on social media, although none for real estate purposes.
“I just thought, if I can just make even one person laugh that’s worth it for me,” she said.
Ollie the cavoodle also stars in the listing photos, in addition to the video.
15 Russell St, West Footscray, is close to parks, schools and cafes.
Positive reactions to the video have been flooding in after home buyers – both dog owners and non-dog owners alike – have seen the video on the house’s realestate.com.au listing and in a Facebook ad campaign by the residence’s listing agency Bond Estate Agents Yarraville.
Fliers with a QR-code that can be scanned to view the clip have also been letterboxed across Footscray with plans to erect posters at local dog parks in the works.
Bond’s director Lee Marks said his phone had been running hot with inquiries about the house and the campaign, with one person jokingly suggesting that Ollie open his own real estate agency.
There’s plenty of storage space and a new Boche oven in the kitchen.
Can you picture your pet enjoying the garden?
Apart from his star turn in the video, the photogenic pup appears in images on the house’s online listing including sitting in his favourite spot on the couch.
Ms Caruk said she and Ollie had lived in an Ascot Vale apartment prior to the West Footscray house.
However, as Ollie details in the video, he refused to go to the bathroom on the apartment’s balcony even though Ms Caruk bought different “every different type of pet-type toilet solution on Google”.
She ended up taking Ollie outside up to five times per day so he could do his business, sometimes at 11pm at night while wearing a coat over her pyjamas after forgetting to make their final trip earlier in an evening.
“And I just thought, ‘Look, it’s he needs his own little space and grass and stuff to sniff and that kind of thing, as well as I need my own space’,” she said.
The staircase was especially made for the house.
This prompted a move to the larger home in West Footscray with a backyard for Ollie.
“He’s my fur baby, so there’s not much I wouldn’t do for him,” Ms Caruk said.
The house features an open-plan living area, a kitchen with a brand-new Boche oven, three bathrooms, a bespoke suspended staircase and an upstairs balcony with Melbourne city views.
Ms Caruk said an added bonus was a nearby dog park with an off-leash area designated especially for small dogs.
In 2020, labradoodle Skid featured in a viral marketing campaign for a West Footscray house. Owners Adrienne and Julian are pictured with their kids Winnie and Rosie. Picture: David Caird.
Mr Marks described the advertising campaign starring Ollie as “thinking outside the box”.
Five years ago, he oversaw a listing campaign for a three-bedroom West Footscray house featuring the owners’ dog, Skid the labradoodle.
Skid appeared on the ‘for sale’ board in front of the property, and in the online listing and promotional video which went viral at the time.
“I think if you do something a bit different, you’re probably going to get a bit of attention,” Mr Marks said.
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