CHASE STUDY: VERSANT AT STEWART CREEK
Challenge
A well-known Canmore builder approached Chase with the challenge of establishing a memorable brand that wouldn’t get lost in the shuffle of real estate project advertising. The builder (Wilderness Homes by Riverdale), which previously did not believe in marketing and advertising, wanted to reach the hearts and minds of those looking for a second home or vacation property, and do so in an innovative way that the geographic and demographic audience had never seen before. The project – Versant At Stewart Creek - was to be Three Sisters Mountain Village’s most anticipated release of town homes and condominiums to date, and it needed to garner attention and attract qualified leads.
Solution
With the opportunity to showcase a unique and desirable second home/vacation destination, Chase saw the chance to create a distinctive umbrella brand to overarch all future offerings from Wilderness Homes by Riverdale. And so the brand of “Gourmet Mountain Living” was born. The marketing concept revolved around the idea of soft selling the real estate and hard selling the “Gourmet Mountain Living” lifestyle that future buyers could expect to experience with the purchase of one of the offerings.
Gourmet Mountain Living Campaign
The Alberta-based Gourmet Mountain Living campaign was multi-faceted, focusing around a lifestyle of food, wine, luxury and indulgence, with the objective to tap into a demographic that truly appreciated the finer things in life. The phrase 'Gourmet Mountain Living' encompassed everything that the real estate opportunities had to offer and had an 'intrigue-factor' to induce excitement in the target audience.
Niche Marketing: Life style advertisements were placed in various niche publications that the competition had failed to target. In most cases these publications had very little or no real estate advertising at all, which left the opportunity for Gourmet Mountain Living to create a buzz and drive traffic to the Versant and Stewart Creek Show Homes and the gourmetmountainliving.com website.
Targeted Gourmet Mountain Living Direct Mail Whisper Campaign: Chase identified select pockets of affluence and key estate communities in Calgary and Edmonton and sent out invitations to an elite VIP Priority Release Event in either Calgary or Edmonton, creating a feeling of exclusivity to generate a buzz around the campaign.
Those who responded to the direct mail were invited to attend the VIP event held at private venues in Calgary and Edmonton, where the unveiling of the floor plans and pricing was presented.
The event was catered by the Metropolitan Grill and featured a sommelier wine tasting and special guest appearance by GML executive chef, Andrew Gass.
Gourmet Mountain Living Lifestyle Magazine: Teaming up with retail partners such as Murietta’s restaurant, Janice Beaton Fine Cheese, The Cellar, Koolspace and Canmore Wine Merchants, a Gourmet Mountain Living lifestyle publication was created with a circulation of 20,000.
The publication had a large real estate feature on the latest release of luxury homes at Versant at Stewart Creek, and announced GML’s resident Executive Chef, Andrew Gass, of Metropolitan Grill and Team Canada Junior Hockey fame.
The magazine was designed for the epicurean and featured wine and cheese reviews, as well as the latest in foodie fashion. Copies were made available at all GML retail locations throughout Calgary, Edmonton and Canmore.
Gourmet Mountain Living Website: Chase created an interactive Gourmet Mountain Living website dedicated to Versant’s Manoir (townhome) and Domain (condominium) real estate offerings and featured floor plans, amenities, photo gallery and registration. It was essentially an online version of GML Magazine.
Gourmet Mountain Living Lifestyle Marketing Collateral: A plethora of appealing marketing collateral was created to support the brand, including an International Award Winning Gourmet Mountain Living Discovery Book. The Discovery Book was a hardcover flip book which creatively went into detail on all the amenities and luxuries that could be expected upon purchase. On one side was the "entrees" section, which featured the meat and potatoes of the real estate offering, including specs, builder information, floor plans and features. When the book was flipped to the “desserts” side, the reader would find lifestyle information such as recipes, dinner party essentials, things to do in Canmore, and wine picks, to name a few. The Discovery Book was supplemented by a Versant at Stewart Creek Real Estate Brochure, GML Magazine and GML sales packaging.
Gourmet Mountain Living/Versant at Stewart Creek Bistro Experience Centre (Canmore)
A first-of-its-kind, themed real estate sales/experience centre was created in Three Sisters Mountain Village in the Canadian Rockies. The centre was inspired by authentic French Bistros to fit Versant’s French theme and flavour. Fresh French bread was baked and served daily in the experience centre to complement the gourmet cappuccino and espresso bar. The experience centre was highly lifestyle focused and served as the gateway to the most luxurious show homes in TSMV history.
Public Relation Efforts & News Articles/Press Coverage
Chase championed all public relations efforts for Gourmet Mountain Living/Versant at Stewart Creek, resulting in editorial coverage and publicity in the following publications:
-Four separate editorial features in the Calgary Herald
-Calgary Sun editorial feature
-Resort Magazine editorial feature
-Two separate editorial features in Business In Calgary Magazine
-Editorial feature in Banff/Canmore Visitor’s Choice Magazine
-Editorial feature in Rocky Mountain Outlook Newspaper
-Editorial Feature in Avenue Magazine
The End Result
The campaign is ongoing; however, to date, Wilderness Homes is enjoying the most sales in all of Three Sisters Mountain Village (January – November 2008).
