Brendon Etheve runs Narellan Pools Ipswich and South Brisbane. Over the past year we have been producing his social video content. Here is what happened.
| 133% follower growth | 319.86K reel views in 12 months | 8.54% engagement rate | Top 1% Narellan franchise network |
The Numbers (March 2025-2026)
All figures below are from Metricool analytics for @narellanpools.ipswich over the 12-month period.
| Metric | Result |
| Follower growth | 133% growth over 12 months |
| Total reel views | 319,860 views |
| Reels vs posts | Reels reaching roughly 8x more people per piece of content |
| Engagement rate | 8.54% (typical range for local service businesses: 1-3%) |
| Reel interactions | 6,721 total: 5,540 likes, 371 comments, 214 saves, 596 shares |
| Content published | 80 reels + 57 posts = 137 pieces across the year |
| Publishing cadence | 2.62 posts per week, maintained consistently |
| Top performing reel | ‘In Ipswich you do need permission from the council to build a pool…’: 66,120 views, 52,920 reach |
| Primary audience | 25-44 year olds in Ipswich, Brisbane, and Gold Coast |
| Geographic split | Ipswich 19.55%, Gold Coast 14.18%, Brisbane 12.22% |
Overview
Narellan Pools Ipswich and South Brisbane is a locally owned franchise run by Brendon Etheve. They install fibreglass swimming pools across Ipswich, Ripley, Springfield Lakes, Flagstone, Greenbank, and South Brisbane, residential areas that have been growing steadily and where demand for pools follows new home builds.
Brendon came to us through a referral from an existing client. He was clear from early on that he wanted video to be a consistent part of how the business marketed itself, not a one-off project. We started building content around that brief and have been working together since.
Over the past year the business has doubled in both pools sold and revenue. Brendon is ranked in the top 1% of the Narellan Pools franchise network across Australia. The content output is increasing, we are nearly tripling the volume as the business moves into its next phase.
What the Client Says
“Working with Unreal Media has been nothing short of outstanding. From the very first interaction, their professionalism, creativity, and attention to detail set them apart in a league of their own. They don’t just produce content, they craft strategic, high-converting visual experiences. Every shot, every edit, every concept is intentional and aligned with delivering real business results, not just aesthetics. Thank you Jakob and Hayden!” – Kimberley Jean-Maree, Narellan Pools Ipswich & South Brisbane
This review is from Kim, Brendon’s wife, who has been across the full scope of the work over the past year. The part worth noting is ‘real business results, not just aesthetics’, that is the brief we work to on every project, and it is good to hear it reflected back.
What the Content Strategy Looked Like
The brief was straightforward: get Brendon in front of people in Ipswich and South Brisbane who are thinking about getting a pool, before they start calling around for quotes. Pool installations are a considered purchase. People research for months. The goal was to be the business they had already been watching by the time they were ready to call.
The Ipswich and South Brisbane residential market is competitive for pool builders. Narellan Pools is a well-known franchise, but at the local level it comes down to the owner. Brendon is knowledgeable, direct, and comfortable on camera. The content strategy was built around that.
Educational Content Reaches Further
The best performing piece of content in the 12-month period was not a pool reveal or a promotion. It was Brendon explaining the council permit process for pool installations in Ipswich. 66,120 views. 52,920 reach.
It worked because it answered a real question that people were searching for on Google. Anyone in Ipswich who has thought about getting a pool has wondered about the permit process. Brendon explained it clearly, on camera without too many bells n whistles. People shared it because it was genuinely useful. Educational content about the buying process reaches further than promotional content because it gets sent between partners, tagged to friends, saved to come back to later.
This is the pattern we try to run consistently: pool builds and reveals show the quality of the work, and educational content about the process earns reach from people who are thinking about it but have not yet started talking to builders.
The Adelaide Referral Sale
A woman in Adelaide saw Brendon’s content and bought a pool from the Narellan Pools Adelaide branch. She told Brendon directly, she had watched his videos and trusted the brand because of how he presented it.
Brendon’s content is not aimed at Adelaide. There was no paid campaign, no strategy targeting that market. The content built for Ipswich was specific and genuine enough that it persuaded someone in a different state who will never be Brendon’s direct customer. She bought from her local franchise because of what she saw from his.
It is a good illustration of what consistent, honest content does over time. It travels further than the target audience.
Testimonial Videos
Part of our video marketing strategy with Narellan Pools is to get testimonials on video of as many of their customers as possible. It’s an incredible marketing/sales asset for the team and they tend to perform well too. The other benefit is customer testimonials are evergreen so they can be utilised for years to come.
Christmas Showcase
Over the course of one of their jobs in Jimboomba we filmed a Christmas video. We had the Grinch, elves and Santa. The story was a kid wrote a letter to Santa saying he wanted a Narellan Pool for Xmas, and Santa called Brendon to make it happen. The video ends with the kid jumping in the finished pool and we were also able to get an incredible testimonial with the owner of the property.
Showing Up Consistently
2.62 posts per week for 12 months. No gaps, no bursts and silences. The cadence matters as much as the individual pieces. A potential customer who has seen Brendon’s face 40 or 50 times in their feed before they enquire is a different kind of lead to someone who found a website through Google. They have already formed a view. The sales process is shorter because a lot of the trust-building has already happened.
The Ipswich market has noticed. Brendon’s community refers to him as the pool guy in SEQ. That is not something you engineer, it is what happens when the same person shows up in the same feed, consistently, talking about something they actually know well.
Business Results
Narellan Pools Ipswich & South Brisbane doubled revenue and pool installations over the past year. They are currently ranked in the top 1% of the Narellan Pools franchise network across Australia. This is not just through the work of our content by any means, they have an incredibly strong business model and great leadership, so our video content being slotted into their marketing has simply helped, versus if they had a bad business our content would have been working uphill.
The content has also had an impact beyond the Ipswich franchise. The Adelaide sale mentioned above is one example. Within the Narellan Pools network, the way Brendon’s franchise is using video has attracted attention from other franchise owners looking at what is working.
Their business is now scaling and we are excited to announce our partnership is scaling as we are increasing content output to close to triple the current volume over the next phase of growth. Our focus now is building out the back-end of their sales process with video content to make closing easier and customers feel happier and more informed.
Narellan Pools Ipswich — Instagram Growth
Followers
1,436
up from 617
Engagement rate
8.54%
industry avg 1–3%
Top reel
66.1K
views — council permit reel
Top 1% Narellan franchise network
Doubled revenue & pools sold
Mar 2025 – Mar 2026
@narellanpools.ipswich
Source: Metricool analytics · Narellan Pools Ipswich & South Brisbane · March 2025 – March 2026
Why Consistent Video Content Works for a Local Pool Builder
A pool is not an impulse purchase. The average buyer thinks about it for months, sometimes longer. During that window they are watching content, reading reviews, and gradually narrowing down who they would call. Most local builders are largely invisible during that window.
Regular video content changes that. If someone in Ripley or Springfield Lakes has been watching Brendon explain the pool build process, show completed installs, and answer common questions for three or four months before they call, they are not starting from zero. The enquiry is already warm.
The 8.54% engagement rate in the data supports this. A typical local service business on Instagram sits somewhere between 1% and 3%. The Narellan Pools Ipswich account is well above that range, which suggests the audience is active rather than passive. People are commenting, sharing, and saving content, behaviours that indicate genuine interest rather than passive scrolling. Sure it may not be the largest account on Earth, BUT they have captured a serious slice of the local audience and their revenue reflects that.
For trade and service businesses in Brisbane and Southeast Queensland thinking about what a consistent video content strategy looks like in practice, our video team in Brisbane covers how we approach this kind of work.
Frequently Asked Questions
What results did Narellan Pools Ipswich get from video content over 12 months?
The account grew from around 133% and total reel views reached 319,860. The engagement rate was 8.54%, compared to a typical range of 1-3% for local service businesses. Over the same period the business doubled in both pools sold and revenue, and is ranked in the top 1% of the Narellan Pools franchise network.
What type of Instagram content performs best for a local pool builder?
Educational content about the buying process consistently reaches further than pool reveals or promotions. The top-performing reel in 12 months, (66,120 views and 52,920 organic reach,) was Brendon explaining the council permit process for pool installations in Ipswich. It answered a question every potential buyer has. People shared it, saved it, and sent it to partners. Useful content about the process earns reach because it gets passed around. Promotional content mostly reaches people who are already customers.
How long does it take for social video content to show results for a trade business?
The Narellan Pools Ipswich account showed consistent growth across 12 months, with the effect building gradually rather than spiking and dropping off. The follower growth chart is a steady upward line with spikes around specific high-performing reels. The business results — doubled revenue and pool sales — reflect 12 months of consistent output rather than a single campaign. There is no shortcut timeline, but the compounding effect becomes more visible from around month three or four onward.
Can video content for a franchise owner help other franchises in the same network?
It can, though it is not usually the goal. In Narellan Pools’ case, a customer in Adelaide saw Brendon’s content from the Ipswich franchise and bought a pool from the Adelaide branch. She told Brendon directly that his videos were the reason she trusted the Narellan Pools brand. Content that is genuine and specific tends to travel further than the target audience. It also means the quality of one franchise’s content can reflect on the brand as a whole.
What makes consistent video content work when most local businesses struggle with social media?
Consistency is most of it. Most local businesses post a few times, see limited early results, and stop. The accounts that build an audience post regularly over a long period without expecting immediate returns. Brendon has maintained a cadence of more than twice a week for 12 months. The second factor is appearing on camera yourself, talking about things you actually know. A business owner who answers real questions builds more trust than a business that only posts finished products.
How does Unreal Media approach ongoing social video content for Brisbane trade businesses?
We build the content mix around the buying journey of the specific customer. For a pool builder, that means a combination of pool build and reveal footage, face-to-camera educational content about the process, and social clips that answer questions people are actually searching. The cadence and consistency matter as much as any single piece. Our Brisbane page has more on how we work with local businesses across Southeast Queensland.
