National Park Services Case Study Case To create a long term integrated campaign that plays out across different media, including a strong digital component that creates an engaging and involving user experience.
Problem e National Park Service has lost relevance and continues to struggle with decreased visitation. Our research revealed there is a common lack of knowledge of not only what a National Park is, but what it offers. When Americans think of National Parks, their reaction is “that’s pretty” instead of “I need to go there.” Many also share a “been there, done that” mentality. e problem is that people are unaware of the parks’ range of engaging activities; that there is way more to do than hiking and bird watching.
Objective To spark interest in the National Parks by transforming this limited perception of people and expanding their definition of these parks. To do this, we will position the National Parks not just as something amazing to see, but as something amazing to experience.
Concept e Park Idea - the name brings attention to the fact that the whole idea of going to the parks is what you make of it.
e campaign uses technology such as Augmented Reality, Microsoft Photosynth and Geo-Tagging to allow people to share information, making it more accessible and engaging. Such sharing lends itself to forming a community of national park enthusiasts.
Target Young Professionals, 22-34, single or without children. ey are active and well rounded people. ey consider themselves to be intelligent, globally minded and have an affinity for technology. According to Mintel reports, they’re more likely than any other group to have been exposed to outdoor activities at an early age. However, as they’ve aged, it is no more top of mind.
Mission e Park Idea’s mission is to enlighten American’s to the exciting, extraordinary world that exists within the borders of their own country.
Website As seen on the previous page, the Park Idea website has a refreshing, clean look and feel. You can zoom into different areas depending on what you want to browse. Using high-res images of all the parks, the website highlights all the ‘cool’ activities that can be done at these parks. It also allows people to use the Microsoft Photosynth and Geo-tagging apps to foster user-generated content and sharing.
Geo-Tagging is app allows uses a GPS smartphone to instantly mark favorite trails, tag any landmark or photo, and show others a real time status of where you are in the park. e app also uses a virtual park ranger to point out facts and history relevant to your location in the park.
Microsoft Photosynth is app will be utilized within the Park idea website, featuring infinite user-generated photos to create a virtual tour of the park that grows with each upload.
Creative Since our aim is to transform our target’s staid perception of the parks, we decided to use Augmented Reality in order to engage the target with the print ad and experience the difference themselves. In a time when most people were using AR to add sizzle, we wanted to use it for a purpose. e first ad on the top highlights the misperception that parks are just “scenery and mountains.” e ad shows a black -n-white image of a mountain with the line:’It’s not what you ink.’ en come the instructions to hold that ad in front of the webcam which then reveals a young guy sand surfing down a sand dune.
Another print ad shows a person climbing a mountain whereas the webcam reveals the same person snorkeling. To complement these print ads we wanted to have teaser ads on canoes and boats in certain big cities as well as presence during the Green Festival.
Measurability Considering the fact that people have cut down on fancy vacations due to the recession, the national parks provide an affordable alternative. Younger professionals prefer multiple smaller trips over one big vacation. Success metrics for this campaign include increase in website traffic and park visits, augmented reality app usage, photosynth uploads and geo-tagging app usage.