Marketing 101 promote what you do well and not what your competitor doesn't do well. In this day and time that ad is poor taste. 

Those guys have a future in the Trump campaign.

Never tear down the competition: Rule #1

If your best value propostion is full time vs "part time", you're already in big trouble.  Insulting the most likely decision makers, the moms of the community, well that's just a priceless move on their part.  Big time Fail other than people now know their names.

I have always hated negative advertising --  and I am not surprised that their reputation was damaged

I think their execution couldn't have been any worse, but I feel for them in the reaction and attacks they've gotten since --- I understand their intent, and message that their only focus is on their clients, but it could have been communicated in a much better manner.

Rule #1 in any marketing campaign is to know your customer. The Costello's have done a great job of alienating about 57% of their market is my guess. 

There are part time agents that work much harder than many so called full time agents and using negative advetising is just wrong

They are getting killed on Yelp -even outfit reviews of their pocket scarves

I really enjoyed Michael's answer and couldn't agree with it more.

Isn't working  part time our goal. If we are successful you can work when you want , with whom you want and still have time to enjoy life . 

OMG, reminds me of a woman who wanted to best our client, whose name was a household word in several communities.

She ran a postcard campaign which said, "I am not Suzy Jones (fictitious name)".   She got that right.  LOL A

No I didn't see this, Susan. If I got that in the mail it would hit me as reverse-advertising, definitely going for the busy working mom over the guys with the arrogant attitude.

WOW...................sad.

Wonder who gave them that advice. Someone had to stage that "mom" photo. Maybe one of their wives? Frankly, she looks like she's got it together, the kids are having fun and she doesn't look slovenly, in fact, put together well. Says a lot about what these guys think their wives and children do when they are out being "professional".

I had not seen this. I wonder if the part time mom outsells the two guys.

I get the idea of separating yourself from the competition, but this is a smear on "being a mom" and parent in my humble opinion. 

I get to see the good, bad, & ugly, when it comes to agents, and I've learned it doesn't matter if they're full time or part time, how much they sell, etc.  What does matter, is what kind of person they are, period. 

Whoever created that marketing idea, would be in the bad & ugly denomination.

I don't think it was a smart post card, but I'm totally appauled at people trashing them on yelp.  Those people are just as bad as the original lack of thought.  I wouldn't hire anyone who had posted a bad review of someone they had never done business with either.  And I find it sad that people are offended over every little thing.

Incredibly  ignorant and insensitive.

Hilarious - obviously not something they ran by their Franchisor.  Don't they have rules about those things?!?

Not only does this make a sad statement about the individuals who did the marketing, as a group it makes  hardworking Realtors look petty.  We all know agents who work hard...and those who hardly work.

Simply in bad taste.

That one is negative, if they have an amazing team talk about that and what makes them stand apart. Chances are their standards of service may very well be better then someone part time, but show what you offer without showing what others may not. 

Susan Emo What were they thinking?

If part of your advertising is having to put others down, I don't think it shows a lot of class.  

I remember seeing a few Ben Kinney expired marketing pieces that blatantly put other agencies down.  

Not in good taste in my opinion. 

Susan Emo , I heard you nearly crashed the AR server with this question!  LOL  Apparently, you hit a cord with a lot of people!

I have 6 children and one on the way. I am a full time agent as well. My mom always said " If you want something done, give it to a busy person. " I really dislike when anyone puts people in the full/part time catergory. As long as they get the job done, when they respond in a timely manner etc , what does it matter. I am not paying their bills. 

They should change the title to " Part Time Professional" for the working mom, VS " Full Time Idiots"  for themselves, then send them out to the same mailing list. I think that post card shown is going to cause them to lose a lot of business.

Wow, this ad is offensive on so many levels. If someone mailed that postcard to me and I were planning on selling my home I would be sure NOT to hire them no matter how many good reviews they have from previous clients! 

How discriminatory against women. I'm with Michael Jacobs on this one, too. These guys do have a future on the Trump campaign.

Its not necessary to step on someonelse to gain traction unless you are just a slimeball . In that case, Id take the PT agent. 

Well, bashing people is alive and well in these United States!  Yup, let's bash working mothers now . . . and toss in their little darlings!

There is no such thing as a "part time" agent.  We are ALL independent contractors . . . and set our OWN HOURS!  Therefore, it's up to us.  What is part-time in real estate anyway?  If we set up our own hours, it's up to us.   I hate this type of pitting one against the other . . . in all it's variations and forms.  

I was a SINGLE mother, "part-time" agent and caregiver to an elderly 90-year old woman who had Parkinsons' when I first started out in real estate. I made $10/hour care-giving to Martha.  She was my first client and I sold her house on a "life estate" and then became her care-giver during the week at 25 hours.  

Thankfully, my clients didn't seem to care.

Hello Susan, Yes, I did see it yesterday along with all the responses. Don't think that was their intention but they may pay a huge price for it. Who knows these days, just look at our news.

Holy Crap!!! I had not seen it ... but I have now. What were they thinking!????  I cannot say for sure but I feel there may be a few Code of Ethics violations in that ad as well. 

As for part-time ... I work part-time every single day.  I work 12 hours a day.

One thing we all have in common is we all had moms at one point in our lives. Even if this was a tongue in cheek ad (which it wasn't) you don't attack others. Promote yourself don't step on others...

Good morning Susan Emo ,

OMG I can't believe these agents thought this kind of negative advertising would result in any positive outcome! Extremely poor taste and has hurt their image profoundly!

Mudslinging is always the best way to destroy any profession. In our profession it is a clear ethical violation and he would have been booted out of the ACF.

Part of me wondered if this was really some genius marketing idea, because now everyone is talking about them!

Of course, they are not saying a lot of good things...

Anyone remember the quote "There is no such thing as bad publicity..." ? The rest of the quote is "except your own obituary."

See: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/b/brendanbeh103369.html

I guess this is their obituary.

Susan - I had not seen this, but this is exactly why I never try to say or do anything negative towards anyone else.

This probably would have been okay if it was a political campaign (ha, ha), but obviously lots of backlash to the negative advertising. Putting down mothers is never a good idea.

Ads like this are not necessary and make the one responsible look less than professional. 

That kind of advertising definitely wouldn't go over well in my market where there is a very strong support network for the real estate agent/mom who markets herself through other parents and classmates.

There are two of the Costello's to one part- time Mom.  I'd defend the part time Mom against these two anyday.  If you can't say something nice try to be professional and not bash others thinking it makes you look good. 

They were honest but the advertising delivered a wrong message...

Sam Shueh

Negative only harms the profession.

Lot's of major brands have tried negative adv. over the years and most of it always came back to bite them in the ARS one way or another. Plus, I just don't see how it ingratiates the advertisor with his target market.

Wow... This is the kind of thing that gives us all a bad name.  Why drag eachother through the mud instead of just saying... We're full time Real Estate professionals, here's what we can promise, commit, and do well. 

NEVER TRASH ANOTHER AGENT!  I think this makes all of us look bad.

Good day Susan,

Not a smart move on their part. Their message came across they wrong way. Very poor example, they will reap the rewards........

Thank you for sharing. I had not seen this before.

Did they actually pay for that appalling communication? I doubt their designer was a 'professional' and should be taken to task for such bad advice.

At the very least, they have people talking...I remember years back when a young Realtor took a pic of himself in towel around the waist and caption read, "Want something hot?...work with....." -  

There are very few things you can generalize about and be correct. This is not one of them. I'd like to see these guys try to prove their thesis.

Susan- when anyone has to put down or post negative comments about their competition then that tells me they have nothing else to offer a consumer.  With the Presidential election  running rampant, I'd imagine there may be a need for writers such as these.  If they are not the authors of this campaign, I would hope they would revisit their choice of marketing professionals. 

What were these guys thinking?  They might want to start thinking about a different line of work after alienating potential customers and other agents.

I didn't see this - somehow I missed all the hooplah - but it's pretty derogatory and insensitive, and clearly did not have the desired impact, unless all they wanted was any kind of attention. I guess it's a good thing Mr. Costello hasn't done anything here other than add a profile. But I was kinda interested in his posts as a comparison! LOL

I've been put through the wringer the last day or so. I hope it isn't bad to say "better them than me"! I understand the point they were trying to make, but who came up with that idea?

I missed all the fun!  Thanks for the heads up.  I see, on Yelp, that most of their clients are happy with the Costellos.  I think they learned a valuable, and painful, marketing lesson from this whole experience.

Yes, I saw it on FB and thought it was very ill-advised "advertising."  Shame on those guys!  I bet they now regret sending it out.

Obviously not a well thought out campaign here, Susan Emo ... for SO many reasons ... 

Gene

There should be a less tacky way of emphasizing "full time professional", as that is actually kind of important. This card is tacky and offensive.

Did not see that ad Susan. There are so many positive ways to tout their own strengths rather than encroaching into poor taste territory. Wow!

Are part-time agents really a threat to anyone that you have to make it a core message in your advertising? They are part time! The handful of deals they are able to cobble together should be of no threat to a full time agent who is doing well.

Sounds like this has a good chance of back-firing on the "full time professionals".  I do believe it is tough to be successful if you dabble in real estate, but that message could be handled differently for sure.

Serious damage to their brand ("the suits").