The Warren Group

The Warren Group, the publisher of Banker & Tradesman and other leading real estate publications, has a long track record of supplying timely and reliable real estate data to appraisers, lenders, Realtors®, and other groups. The Boston-based company's commitment to deliver impartial news and accurate data has earned the trust of informed decision-makers since 1872.

Through web site features ranging from its highly popular "TownStats" search page to its informative "Real Estate Records Search," The Warren Group is one of the pre-eminent providers of real estate data throughout much of New England. For instance, its "Town Stats" page allows visitors to pick any town in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island and determine the median home sales price history for the past 17 years. It also allows visitors to view the number of homes sold in any town over that same time period.

But over the years, the more than century-old company has not had a consistent PR effort to tout its statistics and expertise to regional media. Furthermore, a corporate name change compounded the brand-recognition problem. As a result, the media was largely unaware of the wide array of offerings from The Warren Group.

In the end, PAN was tasked with uncovering editorial opportunities to heighten The Warren Group's visibility and increase the use of its market statistics by local and regional media outlets.

The Approach

The PAN team positioned The Warren Group as the premier provider of accurate real estate data throughout New England, underscoring the message that the company is a trusted and venerable name in real estate and has been for more than 125 years. PAN leveraged The Warren Group's real estate data and its well-known weekly newspaper Banker & Tradesman to enhance the brand recognition of the new corporate name.

Because The Warren Group collects its data completely and painstakingly from public records, the PAN team was able to position the market statistics as independent and comprehensive. By targeting reporters at leading New England publications PAN was able to gain traction and increase the use of data from The Warren Group during a critical juncture in the cresting of the local real estate market.

Generally, PAN has employed a strategy to develop consistent, monthly press releases for Massachusetts that focuses on comparing monthly median prices for single-family homes and condominiums versus the comparable time period one year earlier. PAN also made good use of The Warren Group's historical records to compare the peak in the current real estate market with the one late 1980s. In one pivotal instance that served to underscore The Warren Group's value to reporters, PAN developed a press release that examined year-end housing statistics.

The Results

PAN succeeded in securing three major stories in The Boston Globe in the first three months of the program, culminating with a Feb. 7, 2006, story that summarized year-end housing data and trends. Additionally, PAN regularly secured placement in dozens of publications throughout New England in the first six months of the program, elevating The Warren Group as the source for real estate data.

Sampling of secured coverage and general themes:

• The Boston Herald - May 24 (median housing prices)
• The Boston Sunday Globe - April 2 (median housing prices)
• NECN - Feb. 14 (year-end housing statistics)
• The Boston Globe - Feb. 7 (year-end housing statistics)
• Lowell Sun - Feb. 8 (year-end housing statistics)
• Providence Business News - Feb. 8 (year-end housing statistics)
• Commercial Property News -Dec. 28, 2005 (home prices in Western Mass.)
• The Boston Globe - Nov. 19, 2005 (bankruptcy findings)