Lift takes Redefine up to the next level

Over three years of radio and print advertisements, Redefine has promoted itself as a property manager as opposed to purely a property investment fund.

The slogan sticks: "We're not landlords. We're people."

A few weeks ago, Redefine launched its first full-length television commercial.

A prospective tenant gets into a lift with an older, bearded man. It's a bumpy ride. The lights fade and you hear screams in the background. The building seems to be falling apart.

"You should take it up with your landlord," says the younger man.

"I am the landlord," says the man sharing the lift with him, breaking out in diabolical laughter.

Redefine has used Charlie Bravo, a smallish agency, ever since it embarked on property management. Before that, the brand was known mostly to property investors and financial journalists.

Redefine needed to grab the attention of businessmen because they are the tenants of commercial and industrial property, said the firm's head of marketing, Marijke Coetzee.

The target market mostly watches international cricket, football and rugby, she said.

Chris Marrington, managing partner of Charlie Bravo, said he was pleased to start with a clean slate.

He said: "You rarely get that with a client of this size."

Marrington used that clean slate to Redefine's advantage by saddling the company's competitors with the negative baggage landlords carry.

He said: "You don't have to do a lot of research to know that the average relationship between landlord and tenant is bad."

What started as a brand strategy a few years ago has now very much influenced Redefine's internal corporate strategy, said Coetzee.

The company's staff uses it as an ethos. They do not want to ever be the sort of landlord you see or hear in their commercials.

Redefine does not have plans for another television commercial at the moment. But they have radio commercials that could easily be converted to the small screen.

"If you close your eyes, you can see it," said Marrington.