Despite the downturn, real estate players have increased their advertising budgets, even as other advertisers are cutting ad costs. The reasons for this are manifold.

"This is a result of desperate measures by most of the developers, and second, stakes are very high as most of the projects are not being sold. Developers have gone aggressive with an increase of 20-35% in the advertising budget due to inflation," said Noshe Oceanic V-P Rajiv Gupta.

The agency handles accounts of real estate developers like Spaze Towers, Rohtas, AMR Infrastructure. Agreed Spaze Towers director Bharat Kumar: "We have increased our advertising budget by another 20% due to recession in the market as well. Our stakes are high at the moment but things are going to get right in the next two-three months."

Many players have even bought back their sold-out properties and are re-selling them to make out for the losses. Most of the players are using tactical promotional strategies to be high on the recall value. With inflation on the high and property prices on the rise, developers are desperate. "It's a do or die situation out there due to high recession in the market. Many developers are buying back their projects and re-selling. It is necessary to make a noise at this time to keep the projects on high visibility radar for those who actively trade on the real estate.

The print media is taking up the major chunk while the rest goes to the outdoors. Out of a scale of 10, together advertising in print and outdoor could be rated as seven," said Noshe Oceanic president Asheesh Sethi.

Despite a desperate situation, most developers see brighter day ahead. "There has been a minor moderation because of liquidity crunch and many internal and external expenses have been re-budgeted. But I don't think the overall indications would be visible on an annual basis," said Parsvnath Developers CEO BP Dhaka.

Developers like Unitech, DLF and Ansal API have not cut down on their advertising budgets. "We have increased our promotional budget and see no reason why we should cut costs here. Moreover, in companies such as ours, the ability to fight recession is inbuilt," said Ansal API president (international market) Kunal Banerji.

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