"Coldwell Banker. The company, also a unit of Realogy, tries to lighten up its approach to today's grim market in new TV ads and a companion website.

The ads show portraits of late founders Colbert Coldwell and Benjamin Arthur Banker. The voiceover is banter between them about everything from interest rates to shenanigans at a long-ago holiday party. The ads close with a pitch for Coldwell Banker's online and on-the-street services for buyers and sellers: "The online tools you want. The experienced agents you need."

The light approach was taken because "Consumers are used to seeing the same old thing when it comes to real estate marketing," says Charlie Young, chief operating officer for Coldwell Banker. "In order to get them to pay attention to a message, you need entertainment."

In addition to TV ads, a third of Coldwell Banker's more than $100 million ad budget is going into digital marketing, including ads on home-oriented websites such as HGTV.com.

A big part of the digital effort, however, is a founders page (coldwellbanker.com/founders), as well as parody profile pages for them on Facebook.com.

The founders site - On the Road with Coldwell & Banker - includes streaming of the TV ads and a faux blog where they write about their "travels" to various cities. In the photos, the founders' framed portraits show up - like Flat Stanley - in odd places such as on a San Francisco cable car and at the Grand Canyon.

Among the Web tools at coldwellbanker.com is a Home Tracker package that includes a search for available homes for sale. Calculators help figure the local value of a home, the value of certain remodeling projects and mortgage payments. The site also offers maintenance reminders and open house checklists for buyers and sellers.

An online video library offers information, such as projects that can spruce up a home for sale and how to organize a move to a new home."