All Black legend Carlos Spencer is lending his face, and passion for Auckland, to the marketing campaign for a house on the beach in Auckland's North Shore.
He is front and centre in the video advertisements for 65 Milford Road, Milford, and an adjoining empty section next door at 63 Milford Road, which goes to tender December 6.
Ray White agent Shane Coote, who is marketing the smart three-bedroom house with Amit Sharma, said the pair had come up with the idea to recruit Spencer after the success of another celebrity pairing for a house they sold last month.
“We enlisted Colin Mathura-Jeffree to help sell a property in Whitby Crescent, Mairangi Bay and that really worked for us,” Coote said.
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"This time around, if we get the right price, I’ll get Carlos there for dinner,” he added, only half joking.
It could be the battle of the dressing-gown stars. Spencer found an entirely new audience when he stripped off his robe for a saucy advertisement for Toffee Pop chocolate biscuits back in 1999 (still remembered fondly by women of a certain age, including this writer) while Mathura-Jeffree was the cheeky host of New Zealand's Hottest Home Baker and New Zealand's Next Top Model. In his Whitby Crescent shoot, he lounges in a designer dressing gown and pulls freshly baked cookies from the oven in a sly reference to his Hottest Home Baker gig.
Carlos Spencer has swapped his dressing gown for sweats to sell the house on Milford Beach, on Auckland's North Shore, with Ray White agents Amit Sharma (left) and Shane Coote. Photo / Supplied
Coote said the celebrity campaigns worked for their market, with more views of the listings and better numbers through open homes, in a market where competition is tough.
“There were definitely more people on it.”
When the agents brainstormed who could front the campaign for the Milford properties they figured Spencer, who played in the 2003 Rugby World Cup and was one of the country’s top test point scorers, would appeal to Kiwis buying waterfront properties. The video gets pushed through both Spencer’s and the agents’ Facebook and Instagram accounts and after just four days is getting good traction, Coote said.
“To be honest, we didn’t over-analyse it, but he’s a celebrity who is appropriate for the property,” he said.
The three-bedroom house on Milford Road is right on the beach. Photo / Supplied
The land behind the three-bedroom house at 65 Milford Road is also on the market, with a combined CV of just over $9m. Photo / Supplied
And while the agents can’t reveal the fees they pay celebrities, they said they are good to work with on the photo shoot. Spencer gamely plays ball, tossing it around with the agents in a convincing pitch for the dream location. Sadly, the dressing gown has been replaced by sensible sweats, but the charm that launched a thousand biscuits is still there.
While the agents can’t say what the properties will sell for, the waterfront house on a 389sqm site has a CV of $6.75 million and the 300sqm section one of $2.275m. Coote said $9m for the pair of properties is “somewhere around” the fair market price.
“But I don’t think any of us would know. That’s why it’s important to get as many eyes on it, which is where Carlos comes in.”
The owner bought the pair of properties in 2014, but the previous owners had lived in the concrete house, for over 50 years, Sharma said.
The top settled waterfront price for the area of $13.25m was inked in August last year for a sprawling Hamptons-style house on Minnehaha Avenue, while this year’s was for a house on Cheltenham Beach, Devonport that sold for $8.3m. Coote said he understood some deals were in play around the $7m to $9m price range, but were not public yet.
