David Collins.
Director of Stratosphere, and the author of every Field Note published here. He has run marketing for a property development business from the inside, and campaigns for developers from the outside.
Where the interest started.
David grew up in Noosa. His father was a property developer and a restaurant owner who built projects at Rainbow Beach. David was on site and at real estate appointments with him from a young age, so the industry was familiar long before it was a career.
He lives on Hedges Avenue on the Gold Coast now, close to the beach. The high-rise architecture there has held his interest for as long as property has. He started Stratosphere Group in Victoria and the practice still has team members there.
What holds his attention is narrower than property. It is how a person behaves when the purchase is large, slow and heavily researched. That behaviour is the same in every other business where a buyer decides that way.
Why this practice exists.
The practice exists because a buyer making a high-value decision does not behave like the buyer most marketing is built for. A campaign judged on how many forms it collects keeps answering the wrong question.
The work is one loop, whichever practice it sits in: measure, diagnose, optimise. What that loop is answerable for is the pipeline at the end of it, not the forms at the start.
What the practice does, and for whom, is set out on the about page and across the four practices.
Where the judgement comes from.
- iFounder and director of Stratosphere, the marketing practice for property development, property investment, construction and trades, and buyers agents.
- iiHead of Sales and Marketing at Little Fish Property Developments, a property development business, running its sales and marketing from inside it. The business later became a Stratosphere client, named below.
- iiiDigital Account Director at Impressive Digital, 2020 to 2021, and Senior Digital Account Manager at King Kong, 2018 to 2020.
- ivProperty site acquisition and feasibility, alongside the marketing work, which is where the rest of a developer's business becomes legible.
- vIn marketing since 2018. He studied business at the University of the Sunshine Coast, majoring in marketing and management.
Under Stratosphere the work has been residential development marketing for Neometro, Buxton Projects, Auyin Property Developments and Little Fish Property Developments, among others. The last of those is David's former employer above. Eight projects are written up on the Projects page; Loam House, Sandringham, for Auyin Property Developments, is the one written up at full length.
The agency years, and the client side.
At Impressive Digital, David led the strategy for home builder Mincove Homes and worked on the account for Cameron's Construction. He then moved client-side, where the job was not to report on a pipeline but to own one.
All of that work belongs to those businesses, not to Stratosphere. It is set out here because it is where the practice's view of a high-value buyer was formed. A reader is entitled to know what stands behind a Field Note.
Recognised work.
- iSemrush Search Awards Australia 2021, best online marketing campaign in real estate, for the Mincove Homes campaign above. The campaign was Impressive Digital's work, won during David's time at that agency. It is named here as his experience, not as a Stratosphere result.
- iiAustralian Financial Review Top 100 Fast Starters, 2022, for Little Fish Property Developments. The listing belongs to that business. David led the sales and marketing strategy behind the growth it was listed for.
- iiiPPC Experts Top 100 Most Influential PPC Experts, 2023 and 2024, placing in the top 50 globally and first in Australia.
- ivAustralian Enterprise Awards, Best Residential Property Development Firm, Melbourne, 2021 and 2022, for Little Fish Property Developments. The award belongs to that business, where David was Head of Sales and Marketing.
Stratosphere itself holds no award. Every one above belongs to David or to a business he worked in.
Every Field Note David has written.
Research, field observations and diagnostics on the markets Stratosphere works in, newest first, with the date each one was published against it. Each one carries his byline and links back to this page.
- FN-012The North-Star metrics of an off-the-plan campaignReference / MeasurementREF / METRICS
- FN-013Shaping tomorrow’s property iconsGuide / Property developmentREF / PIPELINE
- FN-006Trust-led marketing for an evolving eraHub / Three forcesREF / TRUST
- FN-007What changed in property marketing, and whenResearch / Three forcesREF / ERA
- FN-008The macroeconomic environment a property marketer works inResearch / Force 01REF / MACRO
- FN-009Evolving buyer behaviour: how property buyers research nowResearch / Force 02REF / BUYER
- FN-010The shifting digital landscape, and where buyers look nowResearch / Force 03REF / SEARCH
- FN-011Responding to changing market conditions, in orderGuide / Three forcesREF / RESPONSE
- FN-001A practical marketing strategy for property developersGuide / Property developmentREF / STRATEGY
- FN-002Developer brand and project marketing: how they work togetherGuide / Property developmentREF / BRAND
- FN-003What happens after an enquiry: fixing the lead handoverGuide / Lead developmentREF / LEAD DEV
- FN-004A lead generation diagnostic for construction and trade businessesDiagnostic / Construction & tradesREF / LEAD GEN
- FN-005An enquiry-quality diagnostic for property investment firmsDiagnostic / Property investmentREF / INVESTMENT
Enquiries about a project go through the contact page, which reaches David directly, or on 0411 518 115.