03.Perks of the trade
There are other perks to newspaper advertising if you’re a real
estate agent. CHOICE has learnt that Melbourne’s The Age newspaper funds
an annual overseas trip for agents who meet certain sales targets.
“We do run an incentive program, a part of which is an overseas
trip, and we’ve been running it for a number of years,” confirms Tony
Blamey , general manager for real estate at Fairfax.
“But that’s run by
the commercial part of the organisation, not the editorial section…
[Real estate agencies] opt in to the program and it’s based on a
corporate advertising commitment. It’s an opportunity for networking and
there’s a range of activities.”
But Mr Ryder says it’s nothing more than a freebie. “There are
various kickbacks. The papers have for a long time paid bonuses to the
agencies for their advertising, sometimes in the form of perks like
overseas junkets. The irony is that the agents don’t spend their own
money on the advertising, they spend vendors’ money. It’s a major rort
that’s existed for a long time,” says Mr Ryder.