Serenity Farm & Woods Experience
Serenity Farm and Woods is a 30-acre property located in Maine surrounded by lakes, forests, and rivers. The owner wishes to create a place where people (and dogs) can go to get back to nature, to feel at peace.
Goals & Audience
The audience for the experience is both visitors and locals in the area with the primary initial audience extending throughout greater New England. The goals of the experience are to:
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Create a sustainable ecosystem
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Focus on simplicity
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Promote nature
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Evoke feelings of calm and peace
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Humans and dogs leave this place feeling good
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Plant seeds of good that spread into the world
Appeal to the human elements of value through experience
Several years ago, Harvard Business Review and Bain & Company released an article of an approach on delivering what consumers really want derived from Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, called the Consumer Elements of Value.
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I believe this approach has become more and more relevant because it is founded in core human needs of functional, emotional, life-changing, and social impact.
Identity
We explored several different concepts for the identity and settled on one iconic tree, something the owner feels connected to, and is connected to this place. The single tree on its own has a simplistic beauty and was a modification of a leaf icon found on the noun project by Arthur Shain.
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Two variations with text were created with a simple one-word concept - Serenity and the full name Serenity Farm and Woods. The font is one of, if not the most universal font used and renowned for its simplicity, Helvetica.
Website
The website was designed in a staged approach to get something out quickly and then expand and grow information and content. The goals of the website experience map to the goals of the overall experience with the purpose of the site to be part of the 'first-touch' and to move people from awareness to consideration and then participation.
Moving from conversion to community in a growth mindset
A key item of note here is that we are not talking about conversions, we are talking about participation because the most powerful experiences build community and grow organically, like a natural ecosystem. Participation focuses on planting a seed to grow something bigger than just a product or brand. The goal is to build community, not just get people to buy.
Awareness
Consideration
Participation
Outcomes
Recently launched, the experience thus far has received a good response and we are now working on evolving the ecosystem, growing the audience and participation through community connections and paid media.