Selling the sweet life in New York City.

The Related Companies hope their new ad featuring the Veneto luxury condominiums on East 53rd street will help prospective buyers identify with "La Dolce Vita," the sweet life, as depicted in a photograph of a care-free, sophisticated, middle-aged couple strolling down the street, and consider living there.

The ad's strategy reflects a recurring trend in today's fast-paced high end residential market through which developers seek to understand lifestyle tastes of prospective buyers and create comprehensive campaigns to target them.

"Once, when there were only two projects on the market, everybody flocked to it, now the market is a lot more competitive and you need to make sure you stand out, and that you are able to communicate whatever makes your product special to the buyer as quickly as possible," said Tricia Cole, COO at the Corcoran Group.

There are discrepancies among developers about what point in the process advertising is developed. Some developers claim the ads arise organically after the nature of the neighborhood where the residences are or the design of the residences themselves.

"We wanted to come up with a way to convey that sense of glamour in a real New York sense so we used as inspiration the notion of La the Dolce Vita as the sweet life," said David Wine, president of Related Residential Development, we think that's consistent with what historically has been the glamorous east 50's. The campaign is really stemming from wanting to convey the sense of glamour and sophistication we think the building carries through. It's not the other way around. The essence of the building is this warmth, sophistication and glamour."

The Corocoran group has an in-house research team that is intricately involved in the research and marketing anywhere from one to three years throughout the development of the project.

"It's an evolving process. Each project takes on an identity of its own and an advertising campaign and strategy grows out of that," Cole said.

The life of a Corcoran ad however, usually runs about four months. These can run the gamut--from a simple floor plan superimposed over a Manhattan view that allows potential clients to see exactly what kind of space they will be getting for their money, to an ongoing campaign incorporating cartoon characters reporting on issues important to the building that change on a regular basis.

Others research and determine their target buyers at the earliest stages of the design process.

The Shvo Group's new ad for luxury condominiums at 8 Union Square South, a simple black figure 8 in-filled with green leaves on a brown backdrop, is part of a comprehensive package which includes a "hip and elegant sales office" and posters designed to conjure up terrestrial park longings in affluent clientele.

Specifics of this campaign and the condos themselves--including generous square footage and hefty $2 million price tags--were designed after months of research. Research determined that the "prominent" park side address would appeal most to pied-a-tere buyers, people who also have homes outside New York but like the central location, and those who might be upgrading from smaller spaces or want to start families, according to Michael Shvo, founder and principal of the Shvo group. "The market has not diversified so much as split," he said. "You have two buyers--one who wants something unique and will pay a premium for it because that home is like nothing else on the market, and another who wants a deal and will sacrifice location, size and amenities to get that deal."

To further attract clientele, developers are selling renowned labels that their targeted clientele might identify with. Related Company's campaign pushes the work of designer Adam Tihany, whose work and name is associated with elegant European interiors. Shvo has brought world renowned concierge service, Quintessentially, to 8 Union Square to appeal to travelers.

"The ads that will succeed are the ones that beautifully illustrate a mood, a spirit and a lifestyle of what it is like to live in the building. Showing a floor plan will never accomplish that. Showing a view will never accomplish that," said Shvo.

Specific moods Shvo is hoping to illustrate in the 8 Union Square campaign include "owning a piece of Union Square," and having "a park to call your own, a private park that is just moments away from every convenience you could possibly want."

Campaigns targeting specific lifestyles have transcended classic paper advertising to the World Wide Web.

"Institutional image" oriented marketing is on the rise, too, targeted at different market segments. Lavish publications for luxury properties are created by companies for direct mailing to high-net-worth zip codes. "At the other end of the spectrum real estate companies are creating blogs on their websites to bond with younger "Echo Boomer" buyers who relate to that sense of mentality age," said Pamela O'Connor, president and CEO of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World.

In today's highly competitive market, these campaigns could help make that split second difference that prompts buyers to invest.

"You can't just open a building and sit there and expect people to find you--even last year!" said Wine.

"You are always spending money in order to promote the availability of your building. The real question is whether you spend the money wisely; whether you convey a compelling message within your advertising. We are constantly trying to measure the effectiveness of each ad in terms of building a buildings identity in the marketplace and the cost of doing that."

Adding that such strategic marketing is nothing new to the market, Wine said, "You can't point to one thing and say people are buying because of the ad. People are buying because they love the finishes of the design of the building and of the residences. We have been able to successfully convey that in the advertising in a way that makes people come to the sales office and then its all up to the building. All the advertising can do is get them into the sales office. If once they get there what they see disappoints them, the best ad in the world isn't going to sell it."