Our client PropertyFox was often asked if a particular home was in a particular school’s feeder zone. Not knowing the answer and finding that there was very little information online, we decided to produce a guide to help parents. Teaming up with researcher Kerry Petrie, we conducted a thorough survey into school catchment areas and feeder suburbs in 60 of South Africa’s top schools.

We created a report that started conversations and debate and successfully positioned PropertyFox – a national online estate agent – as having deep on-the-ground knowledge of the suburbs of South Africa.

Most importantly, South African parents have an objective starting point when trying to match their property search to their schools choice.

You can view the full report here

  • Date: October 29, 2018
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The Challenge

PropertyFox is a ‘new generation’ digital estate agency. It has a national footprint and operates centrally from Cape Town. There are no agents working in suburbs. This allows them to operate a lean, efficient and affordable property company. To counter the incorrect perception that PropertyFox might not have enough specialist knowledge of South African cities and suburbs we decide something useful and regionally specific. We would attempt to answer a question frequently asked by South African househunters – “If I buy in this suburb will my kids get into this school?”

The Idea

To produce South Africa’s first ever school feeder zone report, with in-depth information that can be read two ways: if you are looking for a home near a particular school, or if you are looking for a good school near a particular home.

The Solution

We worked with a professional researcher and made personal contact with more than 60 top schools – each chosen for their quality sports or academic performance. We then developed a highly visual report with information about schools, neighbourhoods and property prices. The PropertyFox School Feeder Zones Report 2018 was shared with media and on social media and we were overwhelmed by the response and the conversation generated.

The Results

On-message coverage was achieved in 32 media publications. A number of the media that published the story also shared it on their social channels, which resulted in a combined potential reach of 1 152 781 on Twitter and Facebook. Cape Talk was inundated with calls debating the issue and social conversation was robust. A highlight was Business Insider allocating their own budget to boosting on their social media channels over a period of at least three weeks as well as the Sunday Times publicity with massive reach. Overall, publicity generated an ROI x146 far exceeding the target of x5.

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