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G.J. Gardner Drives 30% Higher Purchase Intent by Turning Video Engagement into Audience Intelligence
715K+
impressions across four flights
+30%
Real Estate purchase intent among campaign engagers
+27%
Home & Garden purchase intent among campaign engagers
G.J. Gardner Homes New Zealand and Calibre + Candor used four flights of premium video to find people showing stronger signals of real estate intent. With Ray, Dailymotion’s Agentic Operating System, the campaign turned video engagement into audience intelligence, refined the creative from one flight to the next, and delivered more than 715,000 impressions.
View the campaign
G.J. Gardner Homes was named a finalist at the 2026 IAB New Zealand Digital Advertising Awards.
The challenge
Finding future homeowners before they choose a builder
Before anyone chooses a builder, they first have to decide whether to build at all. A new home can be designed around the way people live and built to current standards, but building is also perceived as a longer and riskier process than buying. Once people decide to build, trust becomes critical: can the builder deliver on time, on budget and to the expected standard?
G.J. Gardner Homes has built more than 25,000 homes in New Zealand since 1997 through locally owned franchise offices. Its model combines the buying power, processes and fixed pricing of a national group with the local presence of builders who live in the communities they serve. The brief was to make that model meaningful and move beyond broad adults 25+ targeting to find people who were genuinely receptive.
The strategy
Turn every video flight into a source of learning
If trust and capability influence the choice of builder, the media experience had to do more than deliver reach. Across four flights from July 2025 to January 2026, Ray compared people who engaged with the campaign with people who saw it but did not engage, analysing their previous 90 days of video viewing. Dailymotion Studio adapted the 30-second spot for pre-roll and Skin Expand, while creative attention analysis used a Fogmap for pre-roll and a Heatmap for Skin Expand to assess focus, engagement, memory and cognitive demand. The findings then informed the format, visual hierarchy, end-frame branding and call to action for the next flight.
1
Discover intent through behaviour Ray revealed that future homeowners could not be defined by age alone. Stronger signals appeared across connected interests in home, family, DIY, technology, finance, automotive and property content.
2
Give the offer room to land Skin Expand carried the brand, the “Unlock & Upgrade” offer and the call to action around the player, giving the offer more room to land.
3
Refine the next flight with evidence The November flight tested pre-roll against Skin Expand. As the offer deadline approached, the January flight focused on Skin Expand, using the campaign’s previous learnings to make the next activation more precise.
The results
Ahead of market benchmarks on every measure that mattered
Across the campaign, G.J. Gardner delivered more than 715,000 impressions, while creative engagement increased from 70 to 79 as learnings were applied. Skin Expand outperformed standard pre-roll on engagement, and click-through strengthened across the programme. Independent Infinitum measurement recorded a 3.1% response rate at NZ$0.58 per visit in the first measured flight, followed by a 2.9% response rate at NZ$0.62 in the second. In the final January flight, Dailymotion delivered the lowest cost per visit of any channel measured.
715K+
impressions across four flights
+30%
Real Estate purchase intent among campaign engagers
+27%
Home & Garden purchase intent among campaign engagers
NZ$0.58
cost per visit at a 3.1% response rate
Why this matters for brand marketers
At G.J. Gardner, the campaign was designed to do more than put a message in front of people. It was built to understand who was genuinely open to building a home. Ray compared people who engaged with the campaign with those who saw it but did not, revealing patterns of interest and purchase intent that went well beyond age. Those learnings shaped the creative and the next flight, helping G.J. Gardner reach future homeowners with a clearer, more relevant message.
Find intent beyond demographics
Campaign engagers indexed 30% higher for Real Estate purchase intent and 27% higher for Home & Garden purchase intent. The signals showed that future homeowners were connected by behaviour and interests, not one age bracket.
Use formats to make complex messages easier to absorb
Skin Expand helped keep the brand, offer and call to action visible around the content. That gave a multi-part home-building message more space to land while preserving the video story.
Treat every flight as research
Audience and creative insight from one flight made the next one more precise. Ray also turned the observed signals into reusable personas, including the Tech-Savvy Media Maven and the Connected Lifestyle Curator.
Key Takeaways
Start with the audience
Audience signals helped identify consumers with the interests and behaviours most relevant to future home building before determining how the campaign should be refined.
Give a complex offer room to breathe
Skin Expand kept the brand and offer visible around the content without losing the story.
Treat each flight as a learning opportunity
Creative and audience insight from one flight made the next one more precise.
Verify performance independently
Third-party measurement made the efficiency story credible, with Infinitum independently measuring response rates and cost per visit.
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