Puppy's adventures showcase Corcoran Group website

Who wouldn't want to spend a day touring New York City's Upper East Side, taking a cab to get a massage at a mid-town day spa, getting a run in at the park, and doing some boutique shopping and meeting a significant other for a "romantic brunch?"

Marcel -- the French bulldog puppy who stars in The Corcoran Group's first scripted live-action TV commercial -- clearly does.

2-minute version of commercial by The Corcoran Group.

Marcel (his real name) will soon be familiar to TV viewers in the New York City market, where two-minute, 60-second and 30-second versions of an ad that showcases the mobile and social capabilities of the brokerage's new website launched Monday. The six-week ad campaign will also run in movie theaters and taxi cabs -- and on YouTube for long after that.

"Meet Marcel," a British-accented voice says as the ad kicks off. "He loves designer bones, snuggling and excessive barking."

As the camera pans up to the small pup on his white couch in his plush New York apartment in the opening frames, the narrator explains that Marcel's co-op board "is okay with his bones, but not with his barking."

Thus Marcel sets off on an adventure to find a new pad using Corcoran Group's new website, launched a couple of weeks ago.

"We wanted to get across how people can use our new site to help them live who they are," said Corcoran Group chief marketing officer, Christina Lowris-Panos.

Coming up with the idea to give a dog's-eye tour of the site (and the city) was not straightforward, Lowris-Panos said. "We were about to give up," she said, because attempts to showcase the new website's features tended to come across like an infomercial.

Marcel, the 10-month-old (at the time of filming) keep of a Corcoran Group agent, had never acted before. But the puppy was instrumental in making the commercial fun, engaging and exciting, Lowris-Panos said.

Judging from some of the response seen on Corcoran Group's Twitter feed, others agree. On Wednesday, the 60-second version of the video had over 200,000 views on YouTube.

In the commercial, Marcel is shown searching Corcoran's site for new pads. Then, the camera follows him around town as he explores different neighborhoods and their features -- a spa, a park, some shopping, and dining -- using the site's mobile, social media integration, one of its touted new elements.

Marcel finds his dog park on Madison Avenue and his brunch spot via a recommendation from Corcoran's Foursquare page, which is integrated into the new website's design. The commercial also shows him finding his spa from Corcoran's live Twitter ask-and-respond feature, which is found in the site's "advice" section. He also manages to find a dog-loving Corcoran agent using the site's new find-an-agent tool.

By the end of the commercial, Marcel found his dream home -- a penthouse in the Flatiron neighborhood of Manhattan.