The Park Idea’s mission is to enlighten the American public of the extraordinary, exciting world that exists within the borders of our own country. To celebrate and reward the camaraderie of the green movement. And to get the message out to as many people possible about what makes the National Parks so precious.

The 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. The 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.

Our goal is to spark interest in the National Parks by transforming this limited perception. To do this, we will position the National Parks not as something amazing to see, but as something amazing to experience.

CONCEPT:
Reveal the interactive aspect of the National Parks.

Reveal the experiential side of the National Parks.

Prove that the best part of visiting the National Parks is the interaction with it.


The PARK IDEA Website
The previous site was unorganized, inefficient, and lacked any sort of personality. It fit the stigma that many of the people we surveyed had held, the parks were a dry institutionalized governmental facitlity, mainly for families. We wanted to change that perception by updating it with new and more engaging technology. The new site utilizes two new technologies, Microsoft Silverlight and Microsoft DeepZoom. With these programs, the idea of screen real estate is destroyed. There can be as much content on one page as needed, the user only needs to continue zooming in to find more information.
PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE ALL OF THE SITE.


Augmented Reality Print Ads
The print ads use augmented reality technology. Consumers will be able to see a 3D virtual model of the images when they hold the coded image in the print ad up to their webcam. These ads drive consumers to a microsite that can generate a tailored park experience for visitors.
PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE ALL OF THE ADS.

Parks Mobile App
The mobile app features a virtual tour guide that tells the user all about a certain park, landmarks, and history. It also features trail maps, common & dangerous plants, and allows users to take photos that are added to a collective photosynth of that park.

When a visitor comes upon a Park landmark, they are prompted with details about them. This is based on GPS.

Visitors can use the Plant or Tracks feature to discover new plants or find out what kind of animals have been walking around the park.

The Photosynth is an archive of photos that use perspective to assemble a virtual 3D version of a location so others can browse the park from home on their computers. (Developed by Microsoft Live Labs)

The "Nitty-Gritty" Case Study
Challenge:
The National Park Services were having trouble with visitation and needed to become relevant in today’s world to survive. They implemented the Centennial Initiative which was a renovation project with several modern updates to various parks throughout the United States. Their mission and objective were to increase relevance and visitation, yet their goals were falling short. These renovations are scheduled to take place over a number a years from 2005-2016. The National Parks Services still needed to increase awareness, visitation, relevance, and of course interest.

Solution:
We found that The National Parks weren’t reaching the right audience. The people who always frequent the parks like families will always visit. There was an untapped market that only needed to be reminded that the parks are relevant. We had to change the preconceived notions about the National Parks. Another problem we realized was that the website that The National Parks provided was where most visitors got their information and made their decisions on where to go and what to do. Their site was ineffective and inefficient for both. The navigation was tethered and the pages cluttered with unorganized information. Important items were hard to find for any visitor. We had to improve the site and the process for the potential visitors. This was key.

Execution:
When it came to the execution of our strategy we specifically chose channels and methods that would help us get in contact with the right audience. We chose an audience who was 22-34 (17% of population), tech-savvy, progressive, and young, still able to get outdoors and enjoy the various activities the National Parks had to offer. For example, sand surfing, hunting, and scuba-diving.

We altered the website, created print ads that incorporated augmented reality, released an iPhone app for geo-tagging within the parks, established a National Park Photosynth community movement, and also released a sponsored “vacation configurator” from Kayak.com (not shown). All these ideas would be released within a strict timeline from the beginning of 2009 through the end of 2010. Throughout the campaign their would be several events and promotions. This includes a Documentary release by Ken Burns about the History of the National Parks on the Discovery Channel, the National Parks would sponsor the Green Festivals throughout the country, and issue a geotagging game for visitors of the National Parks.


Credits:
Jacob Abernathy | Creative Technologist
Sarah Daily | Copywriter
Marisa Domenech | Art Director
Raunak Munot | Brand Manager
Jake Naish | Copywriter
Rachel Stallworth | Communication Strategist






OTHER WORK