As real estate agents increasingly promote themselves on social media and television, some in New York City are targeting buyers in the back of a cab.
Two women dressed in colorful leotards and neon leg warmers ran in place in front of a green screen at a studio in Astoria, Queens, lamenting that they should have bought their dream home five years ago.
Behind a monitor, the director was Jason Haber, a New York City real estate agent. He was hoping to reach thousands of people each day, not on their phones or in a movie theater or on a flat screen at home, but in the back seats of cabs.
Taxi TV is yet another way for agents to boost their brand or listings, in a media space crowded with highly produced TikTok tours and reality TV series that elevate some agents to celebrity status. Recognition is the name of the game, and taxi passengers make for a captive audience.
Many real estate agents have abandoned the longtime tradition of the bus-stop bench ad featuring a headshot, the name of their brokerage and their phone number.
“It would be so easy to just have our arms cross, folded like typical real estate agents,” said Mr. Haber, who works at Compass.
Instead, he goes all out with a script and actors. “What we do is create narratives that are very different,” he said. His latest ad pokes fun at a phrase he said he hears often: “I shoulda bought five years ago.”
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