An Innovative Client Survey

When Troutman Sanders decided to move its San Diego office out of downtown to an area north of the city, the firm turned to HBC to come up with a creative way to publicize it. The answer: conduct a survey that measures business executives’ attitudes on real estate leasing trends in the area. The survey was administered to 250 business executives and owners in the San Diego region and asked them what their thoughts were on companies moving out of downtown San Diego and why the trend was occurring. The results were astonishing: a majority of businesses believed that downtown San Diego was more expensive that the surrounding area. However, as Michael Whitton, Managing Partner of Troutman’s San Diego office commented, that was a huge misperception. HBC used the results of the survey to position Whitton as an expert on real estate matters in San Diego and to promote the office move. Our outreach efforts resulted in a feature article in the San Diego Daily Transcript and numerous other placements.