Created while I was Director of Marketing for The Bureau of Small Projects, on behalf of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Naming, brand and campaign
U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceAmerica's Wildlife Refuges.
Giving 568 refuges a name people could remember, and a reason to go and find them.
The real problem
The ask was a rebrand and a campaign to bring in new visitors. What the refuges really needed was a reason to be noticed at all. They protect 95 million acres across all 50 states, yet next to the National Parks they barely registered, and a name like the National Wildlife Refuge System wasn't helping.
What I noticed
The landscape analysis showed a category where everyone looked and sounded the same. And the most surprising fact was hiding in plain sight: 101 refuges sit within 25 miles of a city. After the pandemic, people were craving relief and calm, and these wild places were already on the edge of their everyday lives.
The call I made
I tested four directions for the value proposition: conservation, heritage, the refuges themselves, and our connection with nature. We chose connection. Everyone else was talking about protecting the land, so we invited people back into it, as close as just past the highway.
What I built
A new name, America's Wildlife Refuges, and an identity grown from a cairn, the stacked-stone marker that tells you you're on the right path. A value proposition and messaging guide, a brand manual and a new homepage. Then the Find Your Wild campaign to launch it, plus the ads for the refuges' annual Walk for the Wild 5K.
The words
Welcome back to nature.
We have lost our touch with nature. And yet, this land lives on the outskirts of our lives. Its wildlife thrive just beyond the edges of our homes. Around the corners and cul-de-sacs, just past the highways and across the bridges.
Come and walk, touch, feel, sit, leap, and learn. Bring a camera or a kayak. Bring your little ones, your elders, your friends, yourself. Immerse for a moment in these sacred spaces and leave just a little bit more alive.
What happened
8.5 million impressions and a 2 to 3% click-through rate across Meta, Google and LinkedIn.
The lesson
When the whole category zigs, your strongest fact is usually the one nobody bothered to lead with.
The work
What I brought
- Landscape analysis
- Value proposition
- Naming
- Positioning
- Identity
- Brand manual
- Website
- Campaign
This work was created for The Bureau of Small Projects, on behalf of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. All rights belong to the agency and the client.