Feeling the Love: The Story Behind @properties’ Love Campaign

Ask 100 people what one word they associate with real estate, and you’ll probably get answers like home, house, or land. But ask an @properties agent, and you’ll likely hear a completely different word…love.

Love crept into the @properties lexicon years ago with our Love Where You Live ad campaign, which morphed into our work mantra, Love Where You Work. Then in 2015, @properties commissioned Chicago-based artist Matthew Hoffman to paint a mural adorning our office in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood. The mural featured the word “love” in Hoffman’s signature script font and quickly became a popular backdrop for Instagram pictures, holiday cards, engagement photos, and everything in between.

Today the “love” script can be found everywhere from billboards to bumper magnets to cloth masks that have even been spotted on a few famous faces. Now as @properties expands nationally and shares the love across the country, we thought it was only fitting to catch up with company co-founder and co-CEO Thad Wong, who is the architect of many of the firm’s marketing campaigns.

@: What inspired the Love campaign?

Thad Wong: We were in a marketing meeting trying to come up with the next campaign, and it got us thinking: What is a single word that everybody is drawn to? The word we came up with was “love.” Love is what everyone desires in a home and a community. It’s the most powerful force in the world, and it enriches our lives in so many ways. So the idea behind the campaign was to spread love, and it snowballed from there.

@: Tell us a little bit about the partnership with artist Matthew Hoffman.

TW: @properties has collaborated with a number of artists over the past two decades, and we’re big believers in giving local artists a platform for expression. We engaged Matthew Hoffman for this campaign because we loved his You Are Beautiful project and the positivity his art spreads in our communities. He was the perfect person to bring our vision to life.

@: What’s the significance of the location of the first Love mural?

TW: Bucktown is one of the neighborhoods that put @properties on the map, and we thought the mural would be a fun, interactive way to connect with the community. The response was really positive, and the mural started taking on a life of its own with people taking pictures and posting them on social media. Eventually we started putting the love logo on billboards, bumper magnets, client appreciation gifts, and other things, and it took off. We’ve even received pictures of love magnet sightings in different countries, so it’s been fun to see it grow over the years.

@: What’s next for @properties and the Love campaign?

TW: Love everywhere! As we launch new franchises across the country, we’re excited to share the love far and wide and to give more homebuyers and sellers access to the resources that have fueled our growth. We’ve come a long way in 20 years, and we still feel like we’re just getting started.