Deer Creek Lodge
The Challenge
Deer Creek Lodge was established in 1978 and is privately owned by a family of hunters and outdoor enthusiasts. Although internationally recognized, brand awareness and attendance needed to be increased to transition it from a family gathering location to a viable, growth business.
The Scope
Deer Creek Lodge is a lodge in Sebree, Kentucky that has received honors, accolades, and recognition for offering an outstanding hunting experience within a well-groomed property and luxurious accommodations. The owners wanted to evolve the brand into something dynamic that would capture and elevate the hunting adventure. They needed a comprehensive brand evolution with an accurate and authentic brand story and messaging that would be applied across all communication vehicles including an updated website.
Role: Creative Direction, Brand Strategy, Visual Identity, Account Management, Location Production, Digital Presence
Created while at Agency squid
The Solution
The project was launched by an intensive on-site brand workshop with the owners and the key staff stakeholders to understand history, individual perspectives from all angles of the business and aggregated goals for the business. This was followed by deep-dive into the national competitive market and research into key targeted audiences. The result being a brand strategy that captures the unique Deer Creek Lodge experience and encapsulated the vision and business goals supported by a brand platform that informs and guides all traditional and digital marketing and sales initiatives.
The Audience
By far, an older Caucasian male was the targeted audience within the national competitive set. Since Deer Creek Lodge was based on cross-generational family-centric experiences, through data driven research, we discovered hunting and outdoors enthusiasts market segments of existing and potential customers that were being underserved. They were the experienced hunter, the interested hunter, the active retreater, and the future hunter. These groups were defined by what experiences are important to the, their socioeconomic status, educational backgrounds, habits, media consumption, purchase behavior and shared interests.
The Brand
Strategy
Our strategy began with defining the branding process, objectives, and expectations. We conducted an extensive competitor evaluation that helped define the “white space” we could own. Combining this with the collected data formed the brand vision, manifesto, and persona.
Identity
A timeless and iconic logo was created capturing the exhilarating moment a bird is kicked up during the hunting experience. Lines in the bird are reflective of the grass in which it is flying out of as well as an abstract detail implying feathers during flight. The mark is paired with strong and clean primary type with a supportive serif which speaks to the sophistication of the property and experience.
The photography and videography needed to highlight Deer Creek’s offerings and capture the private setting of the lodge and all they have to offer. Hunting is a generational sport and often passed down, and experienced as a family or group. With the hunting industry primarily aimed towards older males, we needed to make sure women and children were thoughtfully, and respectfully, represented. A moody and organic aesthetic helped tell the experiential story and also constructed a personal connection to the consumer.
The website needed to be an intuitive hub to connect Deer Creek Lodge to a nationwide audience in an experiential way. The existing website was dated, lacking visuals, voice, and functionality. We needed to make sure Deer Creek went above and beyond the industry standard (which was lacking), and comfortably accommodate their growing audiences’ digital needs, while ultimately, leading to increasing Deer Creek Lodge’s revenue.
Credits:
Account Director: Brent Marmo
Strategic Planning Director: Tanya Jacobson
Creative Director/Lead Design: Tanya Jacobson
Development/Design: Nouchi Yang