Real estate has the capacity to help revive cities and build resilience through sustainable innovation. This has become more important as the COVID-19 pandemic has hit cities hard, causing many to flee them for less dense suburban and rural communities.

In response to this, JLL (a U.S.-based real estate service) and Bloomberg partnered to increase awareness around the direct impact real estate has on the environment. The initiative was part of the new Bloomberg Green, a multiplatform editorial brand focused on climate change news, analysis, and solutions. One of the goals was to raise Bloomberg Green’s profile as a sustainability pioneer in its sector.

The Building City Resilience campaign zeroed in on the idea that sustainable cities can offer resilience in times of crisis and help drive the speed of recovery. The campaign was presented in a positive, human-centric, and solution-led approach in contrast with much of the “fog and fear” tone that accompanies much of the reporting around the pandemic and climate change.

Immersive, multimedia storytelling

The multimedia project included an interactive infographic that challenged the idea that building resilience is limited to new construction. Case studies showing how sustainable retrofitting could work were presented on buildings from the Empire State Building in New York to the innovative ZIN building in Brussels.

Another interactive component of Building City Resilience was a video series, in which viewers could meet virtually an innovator with a plan to tackle 47% of the world’s energy use, and watch as one of the largest community solar power projects in the United States takes shape.

Building and distribution

The campaign integrated the proprietary knowledge of both JLL and Bloomberg, creating a data-driven view into the multipronged role of real estate through video, animation, interactive infographics, and articles.

To maximise audience exposure and engagement, content was distributed throughout Bloomberg’s unique media portfolio, with high-impact amplification on Bloomberg.com, including the Bloomberg Green and CityLab channels. It was also promoted through Bloomberg’s social channels and showcased through Bloomberg Green events such as the Virtual Green Festival.

Standout engagement results

This custom content collaboration expanded JLL’s thought leadership and deepened engagement. Some of the results include:

• More than 50,000 visits to JLL’s custom content pages on bloomberg.com.

• More than 2.8 million video views across Bloomberg social channels, and high-impact on-site amplification.

• More than 2.4 million native traffic drivers have delivered across bloomberg.com, including the Green channel, and exceeded CTR benchmarks by up to 26%.

The content-led creative approach also drove high engagement for Bloomberg Green and beyond. Key results include:

• 75% of all clicks have been generated via JLL’s ad.apt story formats.

• The formats are exceeding click-through benchmarks by more than 286%, and out-performing standard banners by 400%.

The ad.apt story’s exceptional performance across both Green and complementary media placements suggests JLL’s topical content is highly relevant and appealing to the Bloomberg audience.

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