Two shockingly bad cold call emails Do people really believe this works?

Sell Homes of "Putin's Cronies" The phrase 'more easy said than done' surely applies here? All sounds great in theory - sell over a billion quids worth of Russian owned assets and provide new housing for displaced Ukrainians. According to new analysis by City Hall, if the £1.1bn of property identified by Transparency International in 2022 as being bought by Russians accused of corruption or with links to the Kremlin could be sold, it would provide sufficient funding for over 4,000 low-cost homes - lifted from the Beeb Quite a big 'if' and 'but' in there? So any legs or attention grabbing headline?  Would dearly love to voice educated opinion but a quick google of related media articles the breadth of coverage would suggest the latter

That's another fine MEES you've got me into As April 2027 and 2030 deadlines loom how realistic is meeting EPC C and B ratings for run-of-the-mill London offices? The definition of run-of-the-mill London Offices is more than a tad vague so we grabbed an example off Langham Estates stock in Margaret Street. The fourth floor at number 19 is on the market and currently has an EPC rating of D.  By 1st April 2027 this will need to be improved to C, and B by 2030.  The floor in this building must be typical of a fair amount of secondary office space in London. One would assume the Langham have already done the simple stuff like energy efficient lighting, heating controls and the likes so begs the question what would need to be done to get that certificate to C and B...

WeWork, Wont, Worked, What? As WeWork try to renegotiate nearly all its leases, the comment “many landlords are expected to listen” seems somewhat trite as will many landlords really have an option? “It’s better to engage smartly with WeWork and see what’s available than not talking at all,” said Isaac Marcushamer, an attorney at Miami-based law firm DGIM. (well, he would say that wouldn’t he?) Should they decide not to listen, however, heaven forbid they respond, “We Won’t” as WeWork has, allegedly, just sent a cease-and-desist letter to rival Codi in response to the startup’s recent marketing campaign it dubs “WeWont” WeWork still has wide name recognition from its fast growth, post founding in 2010. It later had to scrap its first attempt at an initial public offering before ousting its co-founder and CEO, Adam Neumann, and embarking on cost cuts. That turnabout was so dramatic it was the topic of an AppleTV mini-series, "WeCrashed Work, Wont, Crashed [...]

The Mark - a new City development of 215,000 sq ft offices with cultural, food & beverage and retail space

“Never Knowingly Undersold”All gets a bit tricky with that mission statement going into the world of property as John Lewis are finding to their cost after launching into the property sector following the appointment of Dame Sharon White as chairman back in 2020.Their build-to-rent scheme in Ealing is reportedly likely to result in losses of £57m and bids on the sale of the upper floors of its Oxford Street store, for redevelopment into offices, are now floundering, due to rising interest rates and the present economic microclimate.Their venture into property, whilst Waitrose is underperforming, does to seem likely to be on track to generate two fifths of group profit via non-retail areas by 2030.  Maybe it would have been prudent to address the problems in the core business rather than introduce more through diversification.

The final countdown for WeWork as stock falls off the edge

Most Prominent Real Estate Leaders to Watch in 2023 Happy Days - it would seem our somewhat low key digital campaign is now reaping benefits as we have recently been informed that we have been shortlisted as Victory Magazine’s "The Most Prominent Real Estate Leaders to Watch in 2023" Whoop! Whoop! Ah, reading the announcing email a little further, the squib dampens.  It’s seems that we have been shortlisted to be given the opportunity to appear in a special edition of the magazine running "The Most Prominent Real Estate Leaders to Watch in 2023" as a feature.  Furthermore there is a nominal sponsorship fee of $1,200 to appear in said proposed edition.  Dollars?  Hold the phone where is this mag? Well we have had a look at Victory Magazine and have concluded this may not be the best way to spend $1,200 worth of marketing (we get two years of ed for that - regardless of exchange rate). [...]

Hmm - seems we were wrong! Having given unsolicited email marketing a bash over the last month ed decided to get an alternative point of view to those of us here at HM.  To add a further angle to the debate we gleaned the opinion of AI which started off thus… “In the ever-evolving digital landscape, email marketing remains a cornerstone strategy for businesses looking to engage with their audience, build brand loyalty, and drive conversions.”  Thanks for that chaps - for those interested in exactly what they said you can read it here.

Wonderful Spam! Okay - granted you need to be of a certain age to remember the above scene from Monty Python but suffice to say it wasn’t really a promotion for said product Why oh why, therefore, do we keep getting bombarded with it?  And the quality of it so shockingly bad!  The latest to land in the in-box here at HM was from Oli at “digital marketing experts” Add People.  Oli suggests we may want to meet so could we email him back, with a thumbs up, and Frankie will be on the blower to arrange a time., Okay - so here’s what I am thinking.  Being a “digital marketing expert”, Oli, you must think blanket, unsolicited email (Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam) a good idea, or why would you use it yourselves 🤔. That being the case we don’t really need to see you we can just follow in your footsteps.  Right let me fire up my [...]