San Pedro Creek Case Study
Situation: San Antonio River Authority (SARA) needed an integrated communications program for the Grand Opening of San Pedro Creek Culture Park, a world-class linear park in downtown San Antonio, all while it was still under construction. The public had become accustomed to the historic San Pedro Creek as a mere drainage ditch, and the concept of a culture park was brand new.
Strategy: The campaign kicked off with a “countdown to grand opening” news conference that revealed the culture park’s new branding and signified the launch of the four-week marketing campaign. Every content piece was created for the campaign paid homage to the community surrounding San Pedro Creek, focusing on the three main facets of the park — culture, art, and nature. Each week of the campaign highlighted one of these facets, with all three integrated into the final week’s assets. Messaging about the vital flood control aspects of the development was also incorporated in every item, maintaining the park’s purpose throughout all promotions. Campaign elements included a new website, a video series, print advertisements, social media advertisements, and interactive HTML5 digital advertisements. Using an omnichannel marketing approach, media relations, public affairs, social media marketing, influencer relations, and overall event marketing ahead of the park opening were used. The goal of these marketing efforts was not only to start building a brand and community for San Pedro Creek Culture Park but to also drive awareness and excitement about the Grand Opening.
Impact: The impact of this marketing program was evident in the engagement that took place on all media channels as well as in the successful attendance of the Grand Opening day activities, where nearly 5,000 people visited throughout the day to celebrate. The evening’s Illumination Ceremony was standing-room-only and further showed the community’s excitement for the opening of the culture park.
Throughout the campaign, 18,149 users visited the San Pedro Creek Culture Park website, and our digital advertisements garnered more than 4.73 million impressions. San Pedro Creek Culture Park’s social media content on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter received 5,404 total engagements, and its YouTube video content received 306,974 user views over 30 days. Following the successful Grand Opening of the park, post-event materials were continually developed to integrate marketing strategy to continually attract visitors to visit San Pedro Creek Culture Park.
The biggest creative challenge in the development of campaign content was that the park would not be camera-ready until the very end of our promotion period. Tasked with marketing a finished park while it was still very much a construction site, which pushed an outside the box approach for the creative assets.
