Earlier this month, I attended Garden & Gun’s Jubliee. I couldn’t pass up this photo opportunity with my #pinkbeetle.
While today’s Photo of the Week post is mostly for fun, next week I’ll share an article about Volkswagen’s clever marketing tactics that led to the purchase of my #pinkbeetle. In the meantime, read more about what I loved about Jubilee.
Newland Communities, the country’s most prominent privately held residential developer, prepared to launch its newest master-planned community, Wendell Falls, on May 16, 2015. Wendell Falls is situated in a relatively undeveloped section of Wake County with the perception of being far away from other towns in the county. Newland Communities turned to Clairemont Communications to position the community as a popular living destination and craft a successful grand opening event that would generate buyer traffic and dispel the myth that Wendell Falls was a distantly located neighborhood.
Strategy
Clairemont crafted a grand opening event strategy that targeted home buyers who valued a sense of community. Clairemont highlighted the fun, relational atmosphere at Wendell Falls and provided opportunities for potential guests to personally interact with the brand.
Execution
Clairemont and the Newland team modeled the grand opening after a classic barn raising, an event designed to highlight the community’s innovative offerings while honoring its urbane way of life, agrarian heritage and strong sense of community.
Clairemont created a barn raising atmosphere through entertainment reminiscent of a family carnival. Guests enjoyed southern fare, pony rides and rickshaw tours while being serenading by two top bluegrass bands. Attendees could document the event at a fun photo booth and then sign an old-fashioned commemorative barn quilt. The Barn Raising culminated with the announcement of the winner of the “$50k on the House” – a contest that invited homebuyers a chance to win $50,000 toward a new house in Wendell Falls by writing a short entry and taking selfies at the model homes prior to grand opening.
Results
Clairemont met every goal, exceeded expectations and produced the following results:
Clairemont successfully positioned Wendell Falls as one of the top places to live in Wake County, efforts that have helped Wendell Falls meet its annual sales goal and earn the community the title as Best Master Planned Community in East Wake County by The News & Observer.
The work Clairemont Communications conducted in partnership with Wendell Falls earned a Gold Excellence Award for Total Campaign from the Raleigh Public Relations Society as well as Best in Category for Events & Observances from the North Carolina Public Relations Society of America. We are proud that this campaign represents two of the 137 awards we’ve received since starting Clairemont in 2010. To read more about the work we do with clients, please visit the case study section of our blog.
Christmas is two days away. Do you have your Hatchimals?
If you haven’t yet heard about the Hatchimals craze or are still in need of picking up a present for a child in your life, check out 40 Best Christmas Gifts for Kids That’ll Top Their Wish List. And in the meantime, here’s a photo from 1979 when my brother and I got some big items from our wish lists — TVs and bean bag chairs! Not sure how many kids are asking Santa for these items this year.
Happy Holidays from the Clairemont team!
People often say that PR agency people can’t do PR for themselves. I don’t think it is that we can’t — we just prefer staying focused on our clients. However, there are times a PR agency owner has to stop and think of her firm as if it is a client’s organization.
That’s exactly what my friend and fellow Counselors Academy executive committee member, Rebecca Mosley, did when her agency joined forces with another firm. This article, called Communicating Your Brand from the Inside Out, appeared in PRSA’s Tactics last month. It details the steps Rebecca and her team at Duo PR merged with Impress Labs. My favorite part is how employees participated in developing the new brand as the two groups became one.
As a member of PRSA‘s Counselors Academy executive committee, I’ve been collaborating with Tactics editor John Elsasser for several months as a liaison of sorts to secure contributors for the publication’s monthly column called “Changing Times.” The column was started by Michael Herman, APR, Fellow PRSA, friend and mentor to many. There was no one better than Mike to write about changes in the public relations industry, but his only published column appeared in January 2015, the same month he unexpectedly left this world. Since then, members of PRSA’s Counselors Academy have been contributing their thoughts on the evolution of our profession.
Want to know more about Counselors Academy and its members? Read our previous posts here.
Today’s Featured Instagram Account designation goes to Grounds Cafe! This awesome coffee shop is located at Wendell Falls, a Clairemont client. We love the people at Grounds Cafe, and we think they are Instagram superstars! I mean look at that face! What a great shot.
To see other adorable dogs, drool-worthy grilled cheese sandwiches and perfectly prepared lattes, follow Grounds Cafe on Instagram. Wanna know what else we like on Instagram? Check out our post Instagram: 3 Takes on Video Fun.
