The New Condominium- An exercise in Cross-Marketing

As Soleil@Sinaran partners up with Aramsa Spas to offer spa treatments, Scotts Square decides to partner up with local artists to bring art to the masses and developers partner up with doctors and spa owners to lend their masculine and feminine(respectively) touches to the showflat decor. Excerpts from the article can be found below:

Exclusivity the name of the game in high-end condo sales

4 Jul 06, Straits Times

Developers reach out to potential buyers with private viewings and 'Tatler crowd' parties

By Kelvin Han

THOSE ultra-luxury, ultra-pricey condominiums that make the headlines these days look like anyone's dream home but if you think you might get a glimpse inside one of these dream homes, think again.

Exclusive is the word here - especially when it comes to marketing.

Viewing property at this level means entering a rarefied world of 'Tatler crowd' parties, private viewings of expensively decorated show suites, discreet dinners for potential buyers and auctions that ensure the in-crowd remains desirable.

Take Keppel Land, which recently invited two prominent figures in society, spa and beauty chain owner Ponz Goo and eye specialist Steve Seah, and a third mystery person, to unleash their personal decorating styles on show suites at its Ritz Residences. A series of invitation-only parties were then thrown for friends and possible buyers.

The parties were meticulously planned and executed. 'We don't stint on the catering and entertainment, and attention is paid right down to the grooming and deportment of the sales staff,' he said.

'Privacy is very important for that segment of the market, so deals were done over dinner one on one or in small groups,' he said. Oh, and by invitation only, of course.

Other developers also taking the no-expense-spared approach to wooing the well-heeled buyer.

Naturally, that impression is achieved when 'you have private functions where guests arrive in Rolls-Royces and you can be seen in the company of the who's who crowd', he added.

Interested bidders must pre-register before attending the sale - a move that keeps out the curious while also underlining the exclusive nature of the plots.