Illegal commercial property boards disserving sector

© andrea crisante – 123RF.com

Renecle says that while most property marketers make use of advertising boards to showcase their vacancies and investment opportunities, the mass of illegal commercial property advertising boards in some regions of Johannesburg has taken this marketing tool too far.

“Some of these boards are not even linked to specific premises, or are on council owned property,” says Renecle, who asks why these obviously illegal boards are not being removed. “Usually the use of marketing boards to advertise a property is pretty closely monitored and governed by the local authorities, and any illegal boards are usually taken down or removed fairly quickly.”

Damaging to pricing and interest

Renecle says that while the marketers obviously feel that the more presence they have in terms of advertising boards the better, but the proliferation of these commercial property advertising boards is not doing the market any favours. “The market has been sluggish for a while now and while we believe that some types of commercial property, notably sectional title office space, is starting to pick up again, the mass of boards advertising available commercial space indicates an oversupply which is only damaging to the pricing of and interest in the available stock. Impressions count and these boards are creating the wrong one, aside from generating more white noise than we are already bombarded with from advertising boards on a daily basis.”

Renecle concludes by saying that property companies should be more strategic in their marketing approaches and the local council should be more cognisant of these illegal advertising boards and take the appropriate action.