National Park Service by Camryn Kelly

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Case Study

Lauren Derham, Taylor Teague, and Camryn kelly

Fall 2021 Arts 224-004

MARKET RESEARCH Background

The National Park Service was established in 1916 by President Woodrow Wilson in order to “consolidate the management of America’s federal parklands under one agency” (“National Park Service”). They are a federal agency within the US Department of the Interior and their first park was Yellowstone America’s national park established in 1872 (“National Park Service”). With the help of volunteers and partners, they work to care for national parks around the world. They safeguard the

special parks and share their stories with over 318 million visitors per year (“What we do”). Not only do they take care of national parks, but they also help Americans take of their communities as well. They revitalize communities, preserve local history, celebrate heritage, and create opportunities for kids and families to enjoy the outdoors together through fun activities (“What we do”).

Mission

Their corporate mission is to preserve undamaged the “natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations” (“What we do”). They aspire to conserve the scenery and natural, historic objects and wildlife in each of their parks without causing any damage in the process (“National Park Service”). They do this in order to provide enjoyment to their guests while still maintaining and treating well the natural resources and animals in the lands.

MARKET RESEARCH Target Audience Demographics A study conducted by Jerry J. Vaske showed that the typical park visitors are • Highly educated with one-third of them in the 2010 census holding a bachelor’s or Graduate degree. • Households with an income of $50,000 through $74,000 (24%), but this varied by park. • 7% of them being of Hispanic ethnicity. • 95% of them being white • 4% of them being in the 18-24-year-old range. • 15% of them being over 65. • 87% reported obtaining information about the park prior to their visit. • 76% reported sightseeing to be a major part of their visit, more than 50% went to the visitor center and hiking, and 40% mentioned a form of creative art such as photography, painting, or drawing. In addition to this 2010 Census study, we also found that as of 2021, the National Park Service has been working to target families with younger generations and a more diverse range of ethnicities as well. • With only 9 percent of visitors being Hispanic, 7 percent being African American, and 3 percent being Asian, the

National Park Service sought out ways to target these audiences more. • Jarvis makes it clear that this is a problem that needs to be fixed. He states ““In our second century, we will fully represent our nation’s ethnically and culturally diverse communities” (Rott). • Some reasons that these ethnicities did not attend the parks was because they did not feel well represented in the staff (Rott). Therefore, the National Park Service is slowly working to hire a more diverse staff.

Not only do they desire to target these ethnicities, but they also desire to target families and younger generations especially (“Kids in Parks”). • They have 4th grade passes. • Senior Passes. • Junior Ranger activity books. • Junior Ranger online interactions including virtual tours and games. • Offer family gold member deals.

MARKET RESEARCH Competitors

The National Park Service does not really have any competition with other organizations that offer parks like theirs with the resources they have because they are a government sanctioned service. The state parks may offer a bit of competition, but they are still underneath the larger umbrella of the national service. Because their “service/product” is so unique, what they are really competing against are other ways of spending time that are not outdoor park based. This could include outdoor theme parks, go kart facilities, movie theaters, and things like that.

Unique Selling Points • • • •

Founded in 1916 Home of Yogi Bear 20,000 employees Fossil digs

Working with our partners the National Park Service has: • leveraged more than $55 billion in historic preservation investment through tax incentives awarded more than $5 billion in preservation and outdoor recreation grants • listed more than 85,000 properties in the National Register of Historic Places • designated more than 1,000 National Recreation Trails • The Junior Ranger Program

The National Park Service has been loyally serving the citizens of the United States for over 100 years. This includes employing over 20,000 employees across the country, which has done immeasurable good within the individual communities that the parks are in.

MARKET RESEARCH Strengths • • • • • • • • •

423 National Park Sites in the US There is something for everyone Heavily involved in the communities where they are located Provide jobs for over 20,000 people Over 100 years of experience Strong videography, photography, other media Lots of events for kids Bring awareness to nature Free passes for volunteers, seniors, permanently disabled, 4th graders, and military

Weaknesses • • • • •

Not much for teenagers The opinion that National Parks cause pollution Current struggle to find workers Takes government resources from other things Hard to get to

MARKET RESEARCH Conceptual Ads

Conceptual ads exist to share underlying benefits of products or services through the use of imagery and indirect advertising. They focus on the desires, fears, and emotional responses that drive consumers to make purchase decisions. They grab their viewer’s attention by informing, entertaining, making aware, or sharing values with them.

Informative

Entertaining

MARKET RESEARCH

Awareness Raising

Value Sharing

CONCEPTUAL AD ANALYSIS National Park Service Past Entertaining Ads:

Target Audience: Strategy: Tactics:

Guests who enjoy the parks and would find these statements comical

The strategy in these advertisements was to take bad Yelp reviews of the parks that were so foolish and turn them into comical ads which showcased the opposite of what the reviews tried to say about the parks. The goal in these ads was to make the audience laugh while also portraying the true beauty of the parks that is found in the natural beauty of the earth.

They used vector illustrations and a consistent typeface in all of these advertisements in order to keep consistency and showcase the beauty of the parks in a simple and different way rather than putting actual pictures of the parks.

Successes/Failures:

I would say these ads were successful in the comedy sense because the statements are so ridiculous that it makes the viewer laugh. Although they were successful in that sense, they also portray a sense of fight back which can become a turn-away for

maybe the guests who already did not enjoy their experience at the park. Overall, these advertisements were successful in the comical sense and they also did make viewers rethink their definition of natural beauty and simplicity in a constantly evolving

Critique:

I feel as though the advertisements were effective in how they drew visitors in and made them laugh while doing it. They allowed people to not only read them and laugh, but also read them and think about how they see the world and what they might be missing when looking past the natural beauty of the earth. Therefore, they proved to be effective in two ways and I believe would work to draw consumers into the parks. 8

CONCEPTUAL AD ANALYSIS Competitor’s Entertaining Ads-Disney:

Target Audience: Kids and Parents

Strategy: • • •

To make kids want the things like the lightsaber, princess dress, or woody doll To make parents want to give their kids the time of their lives and have them sleep peacefully in the backseat Kids asleep in the backseat after a good day is a familiar concept for parents

Tactics: • •

Pictures of real kids will draw them closer and make it more real The logo in the bottom corner is subtle enough not to draw too much attention but noticeable enough to attribute the ad to Disney

Successes/Failures: • • •

They have succeeded in targeting diverse audiences with different genders, ethnicities, toy preferences They have succeeded in tapping into a recognizable thing that many parents strive for They have succeeded in telling a story

Critique: • •

Overall amazing They embodied what the park has to offer without showing picture of the park

REFERENCES

“Designer Creates Hilarious Travel Posters for America’s National Parks Based on Their 1-Star Reviews: National Parks, Isle Royale National Park, National Parks America.” Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/pin/294000681927698865/. History.com Editors. “National Park Service.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 27 Mar. 2018, https://www.history.com/top ics/us-government/national-park-service. “Kids in Parks (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, https://www.nps.gov/kids/ index.htm. Overdeep, Meghan. “Raleigh Artist Turns Bad Yelp Reviews of National Parks into Hilarious Travel Posters.” Southern Living. 10 Mar. 2020, https://www.southernliving.com/news/national-park-bad-yelp-reviews-posters. Rott, Nathan. “Don’t Care about National Parks? The Park Service Needs You To.” NPR, NPR, 9 Mar. 2016, https://www.npr. org/2016/03/09/463851006/dont-care-about-national-parks-the-park-service-needs-you-to. Vaske, Jerry. “Linking the 2010 Census to National Park Visitors.” National Park Service. June 2014, https://irma.nps.gov/Data Store/DownloadFile/495294 . “Walt Disney World.” Disneyworld.disney.go.com, https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/. “What We Do (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/ index.htm. “Yellowstone National Park - Lower Yellowstone Falls.” National Park Posters, https://national-park-posters.com/products/yellowstone-national-park-lower-yellowstone-falls.

PROJECT BRIEF Company Overview:

Target Audience

Goals of the Project:

Timeline:

The National Park Service exists to adequately care for parks around the world. They strive to not only care for the parks, but to also help citizens take care of their communities as well. They work to rejuvenate communities, preserve historic sites, celebrate heritage, and create family-friendly outdoor opportunities and activities. (“What we do”).

We are doing well against our competitors, but we don’t just want to do well, we want to stand out and create intrigue in what we offer and/or our mission. In order to do that, let’s push away from the traditional type of advertising. Develop 3 ads as a series that are conceptual in nature. Avoid our project as the main visual. We will be using the series as a digital and print magazine advertisement.

Competitor Info

While the National Park Service does not compete with any other park services on a major scale, the organization is in constant competition for the time and resources provided by families. One company that is maybe the best at capturing the attention of America’s families is Disney. Walt Disney World has been coined the “Happiest Place on Earth.” Thousands upon thousands of dollars are spent by families every single year. In these conceptual ads, we see the consumer culture that Walt Disney World fosters with their customers. The National Park Service prides itself on providing an escape from the world’s obsession with the constant go, go, go.

Families

Pitch Presentation in 4 weeks.

Budget: $5,000

PROPOSAL Goals of the Project:

Tone:

The tone we are going for is inviting and welcoming, but also urgent in the sense that we want to draw people into coming to the parks.

Message:

advertising. Develop 3 ads as a series that are conceptual in nature. Avoid our project as the main visual. We will be using the series as a digital and print magazine advertisement.

Style:

The style that we are going for is warm and inviting. We want to entertain our target families with a purpose. Catch their eyes with words like “Only You,” which many of the adults grew up with. Then intrigue them with everything that NPS has to offer.

The message that we are trying to convey is that families belong at our nation’s beautiful parks.

Previous Company Ads:

PROPOSAL Competitors Ads:

PROPOSAL Our Ad Concepts: 1. Gone Hiking, Gone Exploring, Gone Camping People have left their normal day to day to go on an adventure to the National Parks. They have left their desks or whatever job they may have to go into nature. Our first conceptual ad would show a classroom with a bunch of empty desks and display a sign on the door that says gone exploring. Our second concep-

tual ad would share an empty house with a bunch of hiking gear left out to portray that the family left to go hiking. Lastly, our third conceptual ad would show an empty backyard with a pool that has a pool sign saying gone camping.

2. Only You For our second concept, we would show present the idea that we need you and your family at our national parks. We would show pictures of campgrounds with empty campsites, kayaks with empty seats in them, and picnic tables with empty seats. Each one of these empty spots would have a sign planted in it with the statement “Only You” in the retro Smokey the Bear Font. For the first conceptual ad, there would be a campsite with a bunch of families gathered in tents, but a clear empty spot and empty tent that portrays the idea that your family should be in that tent. For the second conceptual ad, we would show a lake

with families in kayaks, but then one empty kayak in the middle of the lake that maybe has the words “for you” written on the water. Lastly, for the third conceptual ad in this series, we would show a simpler idea of families gathered around picnic tables, but one table empty. Maybe it would have a full meal prepared but have a statement that says, “now we are just waiting for you and your family.” This would work to show that the National Park Service is not only for the typical camping outdoorsy family, but also the settled back and more sociable family as well.

3. The National Parks are for Everyone In this conceptual ad series, we would showcase all kinds of different activities that NPS offers which can cater to any kind of family dynamic. For example, one family around a fire just catching up and talking, one family white water rafting, and one family each reading books separately.

MOOD BOARD

MOOD MOOD BOARD BOARD

POSTER PLANNING Thumbnails:

These thumbnails were created to flesh out each of the different situations that we came up with. For example, some of them were variations on the pool idea and some of them were variations on

the classroom idea. There are even a couple of situations that we did not end up putting in the final product such as a scene of a living room or a dining room.

Roughs: The picture to the left represents our rough drafts for the three concepts. So, the first two show the depiction of an empty classroom to signify that the students are out camping. The second two show an empty house which was our initial concept that has now been revised to be an empty office. Lastly, the third two roughs represent a pool with no one around and bathing suits and pool supplies everywhere to portray the scene of the family gone camping.

POSTER PLANNING Thumbnails:

These thumbnails were created to really brainstorm different icons and things related to the National Park Service to see if we could expand on them in a meaningful way to implement into our Conceptual Ad series. These symbols include things like mountains, canoes, and signs.

Roughs: These roughs consist of three of our favorite ideas from the thumbnails above. They feature the pool concept, classroom concept, and the office concept. Therefore, they led to our final design concepts that we made use of.

POSTER PLANNING Thumbnails and Roughs: The thumbnails and roughs were created to brainstorm all kinds of different situations we could have chosen to portray in our final Conceptual Ads. We ended up choosing a class-

room, an office, and a pool. Some of the other ideas included: a construction zone, the podium in the White House press room, an artists studio, and a kitchen.

POSTER PLANNING Comps:

After taking these initial pictures, we began to consider adding effects to them to make them more unified in design and also moving the logo to the bottom of the design rather than the top.

After looking at these comps, we decided to fix the lighting and editing in order to make it more cohesive throughout the series.

In our last comps, we added edits to the photos and fixed the lighting. We also added white boxes and played around with the fonts, QR codes, and text outlines.

FINAL DESIGN Conceptual Ad Series 1: Empty Classroom THE FINALS OVERALL We chose to add QR codes in order to give our Conceptual Ads a practical touch. That way while we have the consumers attention we can get them to act instead of attempting to hold their attention while they google and search for the National Park Service. All of the photos that we took were edited to have similar lighting, so that they would look more cohesive and as if they were meant to be together. Each sign was brightened in order for the consumer to be able to read the text easier. The white bar underneath our text was implemented so that our text would stand out on top of some of our busier backgrounds. We chose to change the opacity instead of making it a solid bar so that it would seem more natural within the ad as a whole.

FINAL DESIGN Conceptual Ad Series 2:

Empty Backyard and Closed Pool

FINAL DESIGN Conceptual Ad Series 3: Empty Office

MOCKUPS