According to Bungalo, “buying a home doesn’t have to be scary.”
Most people look forward to Halloween for the parties, trick-or-treating and horror movie marathons. But Bungalo, a real estate startup with a digital home-buying platform, saw the spookiest day of the year as an opportunity to sell homes—by searching for signs of the paranormal at its properties. The campaign, which kicked off October 10 and continued through Halloween, was the company’s first jab at exploring more creative ways to draw customers. The paranormal component helped carry the message that Bungalo performs thorough home inspections on all the properties sold through its platform, so customers know what to expect prior to move-in. The campaign was introduced on the company’s website with, “Buying a home doesn’t have to be scary,” followed by: “At Bungalo, we inspect our homes from top to bottom, ensuring homeowners encounter ZERO unwanted surprises after moving in.”
To bring its campaign to life—or rather, the afterlife—Bungalo hired paranormal investigators to visit homes in Charlotte, North Carolina; Dallas, Texas; and Tampa, Florida, where they looked for orbs, apparitions, mysterious activity and feelings of being watched, and they listened for voices. The investigators then provided Bungalo with paranormal inspection reports to share on the company’s website, along with standard home inspection reports. The effort is being promoted with a two-and-a-half minute video starring Becky Vickers, a paranormal investigator with more than 35 years’ experience, who’s been featured in the Travel Channel’s TV series Ghost Stories and Ghost Adventures. In the video, Vickers explained the detection instruments she uses during paranormal investigations, while Dustin Johnson, field coordinator for Bungalo, performed a standard home inspection.
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Danielle Renda is associate editor of PPB.