Coldwell Banker's Ugly Secret

Actually it's no secret. You know those eyesore ads defacing the Mainland, blocking your view and lowering property values? Those very same ads are spoiling the beachfront view at the Coldwell Banker showcase area. Griefer attack already? Nope.

The in-world residents selected to run things for Coldwell Banker are the spam ad salesmen. For some reason CB met with the men who cut formerly nice plots into little pieces for their advertising boards and said "Yes, we have found the folks we want representing us! Pay them handsomely!"

Now the nicest plot in the area is littered with their handiwork.

No worries, CB. You can always sell the land around it and move to a private estate.

See the pretty sight here:
http://forums.secondcitizen.com/showpost.php?p=202792&postcount=347

Sooo who do you go to to spearhead the project that negates negotiating "top dollar with Second Life ‘land barons,’ "? Why, the guy that charges 10K for a 16m2 plot to remove the ugly Mr. Lee's signs you see all over the place.

Anyone feel like clueing them in? I'm tempted to tell CB just to see how they react (shocked? incredulous? denial?) but then it'll be funny to just let this be and see how things develop.

I'll put $100 on denial please.

Or.. they might know. Think about it, they might have allowed the person to put up the eyesores in order to lower his fees? And I noticed very few of the homes would remotely fit a 512m2 plot, which is all most first-timers are going to use.

*shrugs* Not like I care. I'm not going to look for realty in RL any time soon, and if I do, it won't be CB, because apparently they are clueless.

Eh so they contribute to the problems... Fight fire with fire... Buy some land nearby that they don't own and put up all the ugliest shit you can find and face it their way. if there is any land for sale that is. They seam like they are either in denial or they don't care anyway.

CB has no idea what they're doing. Clearly.

To be fair CB probably couldn't tell a rotating ad cube from their own asses. They just have 50k to spend on this new fangled SecondLife thingy in order to make a splash in the papers. I seriously doubt they have any inkling about this silly drama about cutting up parcels and "ruining the view"

It has been said that the RL companies jumping in do it without checking things out.
They probably hired someone, also clueless to set this up for them. We just need to contact them and when they realize this is actually bad publicity they will do something about it. Just hope they didn't sign a long contract. As for the above, it's tempting but you can't lower yourself to their standards.

From the Coldwell website.
http://www.coldwellbanker.com/servlet/News?action=viewNewsItem&contentId=1069986&customerType=News




And here is the contact page to send in comments.
http://www.coldwellbanker.com/home/contact/contact_form.jsp

As with anything actual written letters would be better but let's fill up their inbox this weekend and let them know what we think this does to their brand credibility.
And keep this thread bumped to the top this weekend.

Hey, you missed the point for once. Obviously it's no big deal that there are ugly ads next to the new project. The point is the people they put in charge of their "let's do something nice for the newbie" project are only in SL for personal gain, community be damned.

In the press, CB is going on about how they are going to come in and save SL residents from the selfish land barons. Yet the people they have representing them are the most selfish type of land baron. Ones who have proven with every plot they hack up for profit that they have no problem defacing any sim in SL. Including the "pristine" neighborhoods Coldwell Banker is showcasing as the best way for a new owner to get Mainland. I think the new resident has a right to know about this, before they fall for the baloney they read in the press yesterday.

Was I too subtle for you, E? Obviously it's not the spoiled view that matters here. It's the hypocrisy.

Nice of you to want to warn CB. I'm sure they have no clue what a 16m ad baron even is or the impact they have on the Mainland. But I think the better people to contact if you care about the SL end user more than corporations are your newbie friends so they can have open eyes going in. Please spread the word. I have the oddest feeling this thread will be locked soon.

Amazing how bots cry foul, when the shoe is on the other foot.

Elanthius doesn't seem at all bothered by their (CB's) presence, so I'm not really sure what your point is.

On the other hand, you complained about his bots doing the exact same thing that you've been doing manually for ages.

Quite the opposite, I'm very excited about this new and interesting experiment. I've often dreamed of doing something similar myself but of course I don't have USD30k of capital I can toss away if it all doesn't work.

I worry a little bit that CB doesn't really have the staying power to execute the plan long term, but either way all the best to them. I think it could work really well.

Oh, damn..... well suffice it say, he just lumped them in with everyone else as being "stupid".

My bad.

Oh btw, I didn't hammer the database to death with 7 bots.

LOL, I love you Weedy. Don't ever quit being you!

I daresay CB understand the principle of: "Location, location, location," and may just need it translated into SL terms for them. Best way: send in your comments to CB, and try to get them as far up the organization chart as you can. Like all bureaucracies, corporate ones also follow the principle of "Power issues from the barrel of a vice-president." [Homage to Mao Tse Tung here, but it's basically true.]

This forum isn't for general discussion; there are many Resident Sites where this discussion is appropriate — Resident Answers is for Resident-to-Resident help. I'll close this thread...