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NAR Tournament of Roses Parade float "the Dream of Home Ownership"

"Celebrating the Dream of Home Ownership for 100 Years"

Realtors (members of NAR) How long have you known NAR is sponsoring a float in the Tournament of Roses Parade? If you knew.... why didn't you tell me? You could call me clueless in Columbus, until a week or so ago when I saw something about it on Twitter.

Timing

How do you feel about NAR having a float in the parade this year? It is NAR's 100th birthday... in 2008 or 2009?? I'd like to say Happy Birthday to NAR first before asking you what you think of the idea of a float.

Poll

Here's a poll. It's only a poll and totally unscientific but I would like to ask people who are NOT NAR members to sit on their hands (please refrain from voting. ) Non NAR members comment all you like but please don't vote. Please excuse my Polldaddy Poll. You can still vote, even though the VOTE button just barely shows. Or use this link:

Poll Link The NAR 2009 Tournament of Roses Float

San Bernadino California Realtor, Nick Ondatje tweeting was the first I knew of the NAR float. I had wondered why Jay Thompson, Phoenix RE Guy was asking on Twitter how much a parade float cost. There is something about the NAR Tournament of Roses float in a recent newsletter. I must have missed it.

Did any Southern California ActiveRain members participate?, volunteer?, anyone waving on the float? One of the NAR videos says they needed 600 to 700 members to participate.

Webisodes a link to a the video's about the float from NAR. One a week.

More about it on NAR Wisdom - Jay's website that often wonders aloud about, NAR our national trade organization....

NAR Sponsors Float in Tournament of Roses Parade

More from Jay Thompson (Jay T. the editor) and NAR Wisdom

More Rose Parade Madness. And Money.

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Posted by Maureen McCabe Central OH Homes on 12/29/2008 09:24 AM

Comments (18)

NAR in the Offline Marketing Channel

polls, realtor, nar

18 Comments on NAR Tournament of Roses Parade float "the Dream of Home Ownership"

DEC

well, you are not the only clueless one - I had NO IDEA either!!!!! But I think it is a good idea - we need to be represented everywhere!!!!!

For the cost of the float, etc. would be better adverising while the parade is on. Most people don't remember anything about what floats were in the parade, except maybe the top three winners of awards.

I saw this on the NAR site recently. I think our moneys can go to better use. I generally don't watch the Rose parade. If you want to spend money on a float, why don't they come to New Orleans LA. I think last count starting this Wednesday Sugar Bowl we will have appx 60 parades, from now until Mardi Gras. We will have parade going from all over the world to view.

thanks for the comments.

I often watch the Tournament of Roses Parade, that parade and the Macy's Parade on Thanksgiving Day. Are any of the NOLA parades nationally televised Frank? Do you think this benefits S. California Realtors and not Realtors everywhere?

Edward & Celia, NAR may well have bought advertising time as well during that parade, that football game or other football games.

I wonder about the timing. I know in early 2008 or whenever they first considered this, they could not see how many Americans are going through a "Nightmare of Home Ownership" with foreclosures, losing equity, etc now. Or could they?

Hey Maureen, thanks for posting a poll.

Exposure is good. What that exposure costs, and the return on that expenditure, is what matters.

How much did the float cost? How much did the special theme song cost? I have no idea.

*Surely* someone at NAR did an analysis to determine that the hundreds of thousands of dollars they spent on this was a cost effective use of OUR money. Why not share that analysis with the membership? Why not disclose the cost to the dues paying members?

What is the purpose of this float? Is it to get people to use a Realtor? Is it (as one NAR exec said in a video) to show the public the NAR cares about its members?

None of the parades here in New Orleans are fully covered. I do know that millions of people come to New Orleans just for the various parades. A float would cost under 25k and could be used in all parades. It is just the cost factor. I agree these arrangements were made at least a year ago. No one could have foreseen our market change. Just like or at least my family checkbook, I am watching all cost.

I think it is way cool and only wish I could see it in person! Unfortunately, I don't think it would be able to be used again...it is called the Rose Parade for a reason...it is completely made of organice materials...rose petals being one of them!

Hi Maureen - Irina Netchaev (@pasadenaviews) is helping to build the float. Look for pics and some behind the scenes stories on her blog.

DEC

50/50 good idea / bad idea thanks for the comments. I will watch for something from Irina thanks

DEC

I read about it in the last issue of Realtor magazine, they had a pretty big article about it. But you would have thought they would have done more to promote it? Thanks for those links, I was wondering what others thought of this.

I still have not read the last issue. I know what Jay thinks. I know what Jim Duncan thinks. I am not sure I know what the average REALTOR® thinks about it... or if they even care. I guess the closer you are to eithe r Pasadena or NAR the more you will even think about it. Jay has a comment from someone about how the float is to thank the membership. Maybe it is a matter of "it's the thought that counts."

JAN

Hi Maureen... I think the float is a GREAT idea and they chose a great theme for it too. The Tournament of Roses Parade is far from a "local" event. It is nationally televised and is actually seen on multiple television networks and independent stations. I think this is GREAT exposure at a time when, as REALTORS, we need it most.

JAN

Lots of discussion of the NAR float on RE blogs, on Twitter while we were watching it. Jay did a video for anyone who missed it.

NAR Float on Twitter

#NARFloatDebacle on Twitter

This is from an NAR blog from the immediate past president of NAR, (the 2008 President) in response to a question from Jim Duncan about the cost of the float. Found via Twiitter

NAR Blog Comments

"All decisions at NAR are made by the Leadership Team, Executive Committee, and the Board of Directors. Our expenditure for this event was a small part of our marketing and advertising budget, and was enthusiastically supported by our governing boards. The cost is $350,000.

NAR nets $18 million each year from a total of $50 million in non-dues dollar activities. That money pays for every penny of governance meetings, officer expenses, committee expenses, and activities like the float. Not one dollar of member dues went to pay for this fabulous celebration of our first 100 years."

To me, participating in the parade is 1950s marketing.

The "dream of home ownership" is now perceived as a nightmare by a sizeable percentage of the U.S. population. Until that perception changes, a display like this one looks pretty shallow to me.

The "Voices of Real Estate" site mentioned that one of the announcers made a sarcastic comment when the float passed by. Does anyone truly believe that many consumers do not agree with that negative comment?

Call me old fashioned I love a parade.

I voted "bad idea" when I put the poll up here on December 29, 2008. I thought it was a bad idea when I heard about it on December 17, 2008 too. Of course by that time you could see how 2008 was ending up for Realtors and for homeowners. I felt like we would all look silly.

I thought it was a bad idea because of bubble bloggers, NAR haters, Realtor haters and people who would make sarcastic comments like the announcer.

I have no idea if a float in a parade is good marketing or bad marketing. Luckily I don't have to make those decisions. Gaylord said "All decisions at NAR are made by the Leadership Team, Executive Committee, and the Board of Directors. Our expenditure for this event was a small part of our marketing and advertising budget, and was enthusiastically supported by our governing boards." The rest of us just get to second guess the decisions. NAR has done some things I have thought were worse over the years.

The NAR float did not seem as frivolous to me by Thursday AM among all the other floats. It fit right in. If towns can support floats year after year, why can't a national group send one in celebration of their 100th birthday?. One of the insurance companies I think it was State Farm Insurance that has been in the parade for 25 years?

I have never watched a parade so intently and thought that deeply about the motivation to be present.

Money well spent? Some members believe it is. Others don't.

JAN

I'm not at all sure that the negative comments just come from NAR-haters or REALTOR-haters.

Some negative comments are likely to come from people who have been foreclosure victims or who are upside-down in their mortgages. Others may come from people facing bankruptcy as a result of real estate losses. Still others may come from people who can't afford to sell their primary home and retire elsewhere, or from people who find themselves having to sell a parent's home so that parent may go into a senior-care facility.

I'm not necessarily impressed by decisions made by a committee. The people who rationalize "gee, we've got a couple hundred thousand budgeted and we need to spend it anyway, so let's have a float in the Tournament of Roses Parade" isn't something that I regard as a particularly wise marketing expenditure. The image of a sumptuous float passing by for fifteen to thirty seconds on a television screen just doesn't seem to be a justified marketing expenditure.

I just got off the phone with an agent who told me he's struggling to stay in the business. He's a good, competent agent, not someone who deserves to be weeded out or forced out by adversity. And he's having trouble coming up with $500 for state association dues, $100 for dues to go on using his designation, a couple hundred for lockbox fees and local association costs, etc. If NAR truly wants to show its members how much they care about us, why not find a way to discount annual member dues during these tough times?

I wish NAR a happy 100th birthday. I also wish they'd take a good hard look at how they represent themselves and their members to the American public.

Thanks for the comment Eric, I am not going to be put in a position to defend NAR's float, I thought it was a bad idea when I heard about it.

Maureen, I respect and admire your opinions. And I appreciate the fact that you have brought this matter to our attention in your post.

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