A nationwide chain of estate agents has fallen foul of the ad watchdog after a direct mailing in the form of a business card was banned for trying to hoodwink householders into believing it was a personal approach to sell their homes.
The campaign for William H Brown, which has branches in Leeds, Hull, Peterborough and Norwich, among others, featured a business card with the branch manager’s name and contact details.
On the reverse of the card text in handwritten font stated “Please call me about the marketing of your property”. Below, text in printed font stated “If you have instructed another agent the terms and conditions of those instructions must be considered to avoid a possible liability to pay two commissions in addition to any withdrawal fees or disbursements”.
But the Advertising Standards Authority received a complaint that the missive was not easily identifiable as a marketing communication and was likely to cause unjustifiable distress, by warning recipients they could be liable to pay two commissions.
In its defence, the estate agent said it had targeted addresses where it was known that the owner was looking to sell their property either with another estate agent or privately. It also claimed it was obviously a marketing mailshot and was not designed to cause distress.
However, the ASA disagreed on both counts and banned the mailing from being used again.
