Zillow Marketing Chief Details Platform Strategy in Wharton Podcast
Beverly Jackson, vice president of brand and product marketing at Zillow, outlined the real estate platform's approach to balancing technology infrastructure with brand positioning in a podcast released February 19 by Wharton's Knowledge series.
The 35-minute conversation, hosted by Wharton marketing professors Americus Reed and Barbara Kahn, focused on how Zillow operates its two-sided marketplace connecting homebuyers, renters, and real estate agents through what Jackson described as a blend of data analytics and brand strategy.
For finance leaders watching the proptech sector, the discussion offers insight into how consumer-facing platforms are positioning themselves as the real estate industry digitizes. Zillow has long been a bellwether for how technology companies monetize complex marketplaces where neither buyers nor sellers want to pay directly for access—a model that creates unique revenue recognition and customer acquisition cost challenges.
Jackson's role spans both brand marketing and product marketing, an organizational structure that signals Zillow's attempt to unify how it presents technology capabilities with how consumers perceive the company. The distinction matters in a market where Zillow competes not just with other listing platforms but with traditional brokerages, iBuyers, and mortgage lenders—each with different margin profiles and capital requirements.
The podcast is part of Wharton's "Marketing Matters" series, which examines how companies build brand value in data-driven environments. Previous episodes have explored how consumer brands navigate the tension between personalization and privacy, and how B2B companies justify marketing spend to CFOs skeptical of brand investment.
What wasn't discussed, based on the available information, is how Zillow's marketing organization measures return on brand investment—a perennial question for finance teams asked to fund awareness campaigns. The company's two-sided marketplace model means marketing efficiency calculations differ from traditional e-commerce: Zillow must simultaneously attract home shoppers (who generate page views and data) and real estate professionals (who pay for leads and advertising).
The timing is notable. Real estate platforms face pressure to demonstrate sustainable unit economics as mortgage rates remain elevated and transaction volumes stay below historical norms. Marketing leaders at these companies must justify spend even as the core business—facilitating home sales—operates in a constrained environment.
The full podcast is available through Wharton's Knowledge platform and runs approximately 35 minutes. For CFOs evaluating proptech investments or marketing ROI frameworks, Jackson's perspective offers a case study in how marketplace businesses think about brand as infrastructure rather than discretionary spend.
The question for finance leaders: when your business model depends on network effects, how do you value the marketing that builds the network in the first place?
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