Gutsy ads suit this alternative real estate brokerage

Who has a bigger pool? If it's you, you win.

If you're sitting in an inflatable wading pool, you lose.

That's the message of new real estate ads to hit television and print.

"It's meant to be funny," says Bryan Drakulich, the Sparks-based regional director of Help-U-Sell Real Estate, a national franchise of residential brokerages.

It's also a way to spread the company's message, he adds.And that message? "It's all about marketing." Not about real estate.Not about inventory.

In real estate, the product is not a cozy 3- plus-2 bungalow tucked into a cul-de-sac in Old Northwest Reno.

The product sold by real estate agents is the marketing that will sell that bungalow for top dollar.

When that light bulb of information lit up for Drakulich, he says, he decided on the spot to be part of the real estate world.

It's the foundation of Help-U-Sell's approach to residential real estate sales.

Help-U-Sell is a franchised fee-for-service realty with corporate offices in Colorado and franchises scattered across the nation, offering a graduated scale of services,with prices starting at $2,950.

The latest Drakulich ads for northern Nevada are "gutsy," says Amy Berry, director of account services for the Bauserman Group, the agency handling the campaign.Maybe even inyour face? The campaign so far includes the pool ad asking the question,"Who has a bigger pool? You? Or your Realtor?"Another one asks, "Who has a bigger boat?"And a third focuses on the bottom line:"Who made more money off the sale of your house? You? Or your Realtor?" The ad campaign is an outgrowth of a brainstorming session with the Bauserman team and Drakulich, says Berry."He feels strongly that Help-U-Sell is different, and that by the time people pay real estate commissions, there's not much left," she says.

The Bauserman Group set out to build awareness of Help-U-Sell's differentiating points in the marketplace, and launched a campaign that includes bookend ads (first and last at commercial break) on all major, local television networks, plus print ads in local publications.

The ads are placed and indeed were created to countercheck the negative buzz about Help-U-Sell, says Drakulich.

That buzz, he says comes from competitors.And, he adds, it's not true.What is a fact is that Help-U-Sell's business model is different from the traditional.

"But the traditional methodology of doing business is changing rapidly,"he says.

He bought the Nevada franchise for Help-U-Sell in the early 1980s, seeing it even then as the next big thing in residential real estate sales models.

Other alternative models have also grown to populate the market, including Reno-based Assist-to-Sell, a firm that offers sellers either a flat fee or a commission-based menu of services.

And various others, such as ReMax, have developed alongside the traditional real estate business model.

"There's a lot of business out there," says Drakulich,"and we all need each other." Different buyers bring different desires to the table.