Tag: Creative PR

What Does a PR Agency Do? A Top-Selling Real Estate Community

Clairemont InternAwards, Blog, Case Studies, , , , , , , ,

Briar Chapel is one of largest master-planned green communities in North Carolina and part of Newland Communities, the country’s most prominent privately held residential real estate developer. As it approached its eighth year in business, the marketing team turned to Clairemont, its agency of record, to continue to position Briar Chapel as one of the Triangle’s most desirable living destinations.

Strategy

Clairemont crafted a strategy to reenergize Briar Chapel’s organizational identity through media relations, creative on-site events and community partnerships. Since research showed that target buyers valued self-expression and innovation along with a sense of community, our methods provided opportunities for prospects to interact and personally experience the relational atmosphere at Briar Chapel while highlighting its cutting-edge, customizable lifestyle offerings.

Execution

The Pepper Festival: Hosted on-site at Briar Chapel, the annual Pepper Festival celebrates local culture and food, featuring the largest chef competition in the state. As the team planned for the 9th Pepper Festival, Clairemont spiced up the event to increase attendance and gain stronger visibility for Briar Chapel. To connect with families, we launched the inaugural Spicy Kid Chef Competition, pairing top chefs with aspiring “Pint-Sized Chefs” and challenging the peppery pairs to craft their most creative pepper-themed dish. We tapped into the creative class by hosting a “Hot Glam Fashion Show” where designers showcased pepper-themed couture.

To boost online visibility and social sharing, Clairemont created an interactive personality quiz peppered with twists of wit; seven short questions posed unexpected queries and prescribed a pepper-themed personality type (like “Mild Child,” “Sweet Heat” or “Flame Thrower”), encouraging users to share their results and enter to win festival tickets. Creative and individualized pitches piqued the interest of target influencers. These efforts attracted a record 2,500 festivalgoers on-site to Briar Chapel and secured record coverage, including features in regional magazines and on TV segments.

Launching Veranda: As Briar Chapel prepared to unveil Veranda, its first commercial segment, Clairemont added zest to the strategy to snag the interest of media and guests. For example, we bypassed standard shovels at the ground-breaking ceremony and opted instead to put our officials at the helm of Bobcat excavators.

The ground-breaking ceremony secured visits from the Triangle’s top reporters through creative pitches and placed stories in almost all of the area’s major outlets. To foster community engagement before grand opening, Briar Chapel hosted “Meet the Neighbors,” inviting residents to enjoy complementary food, beverages, live music and services from their new Veranda neighbors at a block-style party. Veranda opened its doors as an attractor for homebuyers and destination for Chapel Hill visitors.

Partnerships and Community Events: To attract prospective homebuyers, Clairemont ditched blasé home tours and helped launch a series of creative on-site events. The team reinstated Music in the Meadow, an outdoor summer concert series featuring local bands, food trucks and family activities in Briar Chapel’s renowned parks. Briar Chapel also hosted a Triangle Off-Road Cyclists (TORC) race to attract the public on-site while showcasing its extensive trail system. Standard open-house weekends were transformed into interactive celebrations that offered guests guides to explore amenities and gift certificates to enjoy the shops and restaurants at Veranda, Briar Chapel’s new commercial segment.

Online Presence: Clairemont retooled Briar Chapel’s website content to reflect its innovative homes and the sense of community that target demographics prized. To boost reader interest, we transformed data into useful, creative content, such as a DIY home blog series, sneak peek tours of developments and resident spotlights on programs such as “Pooches on the Porch.”

Creative Media Pitches: Clairemont brainstormed creative angles beyond home construction to pique the interest of reporters throughout the year. Our pitches explored everything from Briar Chapel’s commitment to green building and its new age-qualified section to its active, vibrant vibe.

Results

In direct correlation with our stated objectives above, we met every goal, exceeded expectations and produced the following results:

  1. Clairemont secured a total of 36 news stories and blogs.
  2. Special events drew an additional 4,000 people on-site.
  3. Home sales increased by 49 percent in 2016.

As a result of this campaign, Clairemont successfully positioned Briar Chapel as one of the top places to live in the Triangle, which helped Briar Chapel meet its annual sales goal and earn the title of Best Neighborhood by Chapel Hill Magazine.

The work Clairemont Communications conducted in partnership with Briar Chapel earned a Gold Award in Organizational Identity/Promotion the Raleigh Public Relations Society. We are proud that this campaign represents two of the 175 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.

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What Does a PR Agency Do? Wendell Falls Busts Real Estate Myths

Clairemont InternAwards, Blog, Case Studies, , , , ,

Newland Communities, the country’s most prominent privately held residential developer, launched its newest master-planned community – Wendell Falls – in May 2015. Newland turned to Clairemont Communications to showcase the strengths of eastern Wake County and unveil the community as the conveniently located living destination that it is.

Strategy

Clairemont crafted a strategy that incorporated media relations, special events and community partnerships. Since research showed that buyers valued a sense of community, our methods highlighted the fun, relational atmosphere at Wendell Falls and provided opportunities for audiences to interact with the brand, whether through online campaigns or in-person events. 

Method

The Hoedown Showdown: Clairemont worked with Wendell Falls to plan a barn-raising themed celebration to commemorate the community’s first anniversary. Clairemont created the Wendell Falls Hoedown Showdown, a celebrity square-dancing competition hosted at the anniversary event. We invited TV, print and online personalities to do-si-do for a little dough ($1,000) to donate to a charity of his or her choice. Media received creative invitations that included a “wanted” poster and a cowboy hat, which one TV reporter even sported on her morning show! Clairemont successfully recruited nine media representatives to compete and another three influencers to judge the competition, resulting in print and television coverage as well as influencer posts to approximately 52,200 followers on Twitter alone.

Jam with Us! – Community Events: To attract prospective homebuyers, Clairemont ditched standard home tours and helped to launch a series of creative on-site events. Since the information center is called the “Farmhouse,” the team rolled out Farmhouse Jams, an outdoor summer concert series featuring local bands and Grounds Café’s “brews and brews,” the on-site café’s beer and coffee. Holiday Sip and Shops attracted home shoppers to peruse Raleigh’s finest hand-crafted gifts, and open-house weekends were transformed into themed celebrations highlighting unexpected home features.

Hand-in-Hand – Partnerships: Clairemont aligned Wendell Falls with key local organizations to increase visibility and connection with the community. For example, during the Eastern Carolina Farm Tour, Wendell Falls launched a family friendly party bus to chauffeur families to tour local farms while they enjoyed, food, beverages and activities.

And…action! – Videos: To combat the perception that Wendell Falls is remotely located, Clairemont conceptualized a “Faster Than” video challenge. Team members “raced” in their cars from a starting point in downtown Raleigh to several prominent suburbs, including Wendell Falls. The contest, captured via mounted GoPro cameras, revealed that drivers can get to Wendell Falls from downtown Raleigh faster than to other surrounding areas. Clairemont also created a video – titled “Our Coffee Cares” – to unveil the story of the Guatemalan family that selects and sources the coffee for Grounds, the on-site café at Wendell Falls.

Beyond the Books – School Campaign: Clairemont did a little homework to bust the myth that the area’s education was subpar. Based on extensive tours and interviews, we first developed a resource to “unveil your child’s future.” This brochure, webpage and blog series highlighted Wendell’s “hidden gem” – a surprising variety of academic options, programs and tracks. The campaign prompted the marketing manager to dub it “the best school tool we’ve had to date!”

Creative Media Pitches: Clairemont brainstormed creative angles beyond home construction to pique the interest of reporters. Our pitches showcased Wendell Falls’ commitment to green building along with the vibrant community lifestyle.

Results

In direct correlation with our stated objectives above, we met every goal, exceeded expectations and produced the following results:

  1. Clairemont secured a total of 13 news stories and blogs.
  2. Special events drew an aditional 1,800 people on-site.
  3. Home sales increased by 250 percent in 2016.

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 earned 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 Platinum Award in Organizational Identity/Promotion from the Raleigh Public Relations Society. We are proud that this campaign represents two of the 175 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.

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What Does a PR Agency Do? Pepper Festival

Sarah HattmanAwards, Blog, Case Studies, , , , , , ,

More exposure and higher attendance were the desires of the Briar Chapel marketing team as it planned its 8th Annual Pepper Festival to support North Carolina agriculture. Briar Chapel is the largest master-planned green community in North Carolina and part of Newland Communities, the country’s most prominent privately held residential real estate developer. It turned to Clairemont Communications to achieve these goals and draw potential homebuyers on-site.

The Strategy

Clairemont faced the challenge of engaging busy media with an overall dwindling interest in annual festivals and one located nearly an hour’s drive from the community. We established an event strategy with target audiences of local media and influencers and area residents with interests in new homes, local foods and sustainable agriculture to drive attendance for the Pepper Festival.

Execution

Our creativity spiced up the festival, securing record coverage and top attendance for this one-day, local event.

  • The People Behind the Pepper: Hosted on-site at Briar Chapel, the Pepper Festival features local culture, food, music and art, while inviting the community to support North Carolina agriculture. For the festival’s eighth year, Clairemont told the story of the people behind the pepper. We dubbed the festival founder as “The Pepper Queen” and touted the fact that her vision now funded more than 200 local farmers due in part to the festival’s success. Farm tours gave reporters the chance to experience the farmers’ stories, interview Briar Chapel partners and highlight the appeal of the festival.
  • Hot Media: We invited key members of the media who personally enjoy spicy dished and craft brews to serve as food and beer judges, and secured attendance from seven prestigious reporters from print, radio, blog and TV outlets that directly correlated to resulting media coverage. Clairemont also sent journalists pepper-themed materials, including news releases, fact sheets, media alerts and pitches that incorporated highly themed verbiage.
  • Event Logistics: Clairemont provided on-site support for the Pepper Festival and served as concierges for the media and judges. We crafted judging criteria, provided media kits, escorted media members through a festival tour and oversaw the judging, the emcee of the event and the awards presentation.

Results

After turning up the heat on the 8th Annual Pepper Festival, Clairemont exceeded each of its objectives and produced the following results:

  1. Clairemont secured a total of 13 blog posts and nine news stories, which included two stories in the area’s largest newspaper, the News & Observer, and a full blog with Triangle Explorer. For the first time in Pepper Festival history, we secured television coverage – both pre-event stories and on-site interviews – and a feature article in a long-lead magazine.
  2. We bolstered Briar Chapel’s online visibility by securing third-party social media mentions from bloggers and reporters on social media to approximately 200,000 combined followers on Twitter alone.
  3. Clairemont boosted ticket sales more than seven percent.

Clairemont’s strategic plan and creative tactics revitalized the Pepper Festival, garnering record attendance of 1,500 people. Additionally, Briar Chapel’s marketing manager declared the event was the tipping point for many homebuyers already considering a home purchase at Briar Chapel and the impetus for increased on-site and online visits by those just beginning a new home search. Moreover, Clairemont broke through the barriers with media and influencers – distance and lack of interest – to generate event excitement and news coverage that will continue to benefit North Carolina agriculture and drive consideration for Briar Chapel as a new home community long after the 8th Annual Pepper Festival.

The work Clairemont Communications conducted in partnership with Briar Chapel earned an Honorable Mention in Total Campaign from the Raleigh Public Relations Society and an Honorable Mention 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.

Image courtesy of Briar Chapel. 

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What Does a PR Agency Do? Wendell Falls

Sarah HattmanAwards, Blog, Case Studies, , , , ,

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:

  • 11 news stories within one month of opening, including a Sunday paper front page spread and two television segments.
  • Five bloggers and approximately 250 community influencers visited Wendell Falls prior to its grand opening.
  • Clairemont and Wendell Falls hosted 2,000 attendees at the grand opening, a 100-percent increase above the original goal.

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.

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Creativity Wins The Game! Congrats Sarah!

Dana PhelpsBlog, Professional Development, Raleigh PR Agency, , ,

Thanks to everyone who read our posts and voted during our Creative Challenge! We had three amazing stories as part of this fun professional development project, and I loved each one of them. Apparently, so did a lot of other people since we received nearly 200 votes!

The grand prize goes to Sarah Hattman for receiving the most votes on her story — congrats Sarah! In order to take the lead, Sarah had to ask herself some questions that we find ourselves asking for our clients every day. They include:

  • How do I engage people?
  • Who is my audience?
  • Where can I find them?
  • How do I make this happen on a deadline?

As the deadline for voting quickly approached, Sarah found creative answers to these questions as she recruited enough votes to take the win! If you haven’t read it yet, you can find Sarah’s winning story here. Her prize package (pictured)  included goodies from some of our local businesses.

You’ll also want to check out the hilarious story by Cherith Mangum (bet you can’t predict the ending!) and Tracy Lathan’s story that expertly connects two entirely different worlds, all with a personal touch.

Enjoy our stories, and let us know how you challenge you or your fellow team members creatively.

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