The Nature Conservancy in Louisiana
As the state chapter of the global conservation organization, The Nature Conservancy in Louisiana (TNC) is powered by its mission to protect and conserve the state’s unique landscapes. From the towering longleaf pine savannas to the massive, meandering Atchafalaya Basin, TNC implements programs rooted in scientific research and passion to protect local resources, ecosystems and habitats.
Standing Up for Nature with TNC
With innovative initiatives branching throughout Louisiana, TNC needed to share its impact with not only stakeholders but the entire community. Since TNC had an array of projects and programs in play, all unique from each other, it needed an all-encompassing marketing strategy just as diversified as its impact.
How We Helped: Planting the Seed & Capturing the Beauty
Our first steps: Nurturing meaningful relationships with each sector of their team, gaining a deep understanding of each program and trading in our office walls for the great outdoors. From tagging along with TNC’s teams of scientists to capture their impact in action to creating engaging and informative brochures, social media content and webpages, we incorporated all aspects of our creative teams to share TNC’s message, mission and achievements.
Growing Awareness Through Cultivated Creativity
Just as water and sunlight foster the growth of a flower, we fostered the awareness and support of TNC’s work through a meaningful partnership and compelling marketing.
Through videos, photos, newsletters, webpages, social media content and print collateral, TNC was able to share critical information about its coastal restoration work, outdoors programs, water quality initiatives and land conservation achievements with its state-wide partners, supporters and stakeholders, as well as form new connections within the community.
Projects That Made Us Proud
Located in the heart of TNC’s largest and most visited Louisiana preserve, Cypress Island, nature enthusiasts frequently enjoy the natural wonders of Lake Martin. The moss-draped swampland encapsulates a scenic sanctuary that supports many species, from nesting colonies of water birds to alligators.
To preserve the popular outdoor destination, TNC performs a lake drawdown roughly every three years to lower the water levels. Drawdowns aren’t just a technical tool – they’re nature’s way of orchestrating a symphony, enhancing fish habitats and fine-tuning water quality for a harmonious ecosystem.
As a recurring and highly beneficial project, TNC needed an engaging and informative video that captured the positive impact its work makes on the complex environment. To achieve this, our video team tagged along with TNC’s Director of Land Protection and Stewardship, Will DeGravells, to collect footage for an interview-based video that not only informed viewers through engaging messaging but also highlighted the preserve’s natural beauty.
Each fall, bird migration begins for the season with flocks filling the skies as birds head south for the winter. Playing a significant role in bird migration, the Atchafalaya Basin is a stop-over habitat, providing migratory birds with a haven to rest and refuel before continuing their journey. Since this area is difficult to access on foot, scientists lacked the ability to accurately collect data on the number of birds using the Basin, that is until recently.
Putting their innovative problem-solving skills to work, TNC partnered with the University of Oklahoma and A. Wilbert’s Sons, a local land management partner, to deploy a Doppler radar that allowed them to scan 40 miles across the Basin – aka track bird migration in real-time and more accurately than ever before.
To capture the importance and innovation of this project as well as how it benefits the entire Gulf Coast, our video team took a field trip with TNC’s Director of Freshwater & Marine Science, Bryan Piazza to the radar system. During this out-of-office excursion, we interviewed Piazza as well as the partners who made this project possible, Marcus Rutherford, a forester at A. Wilbert’s Sons, and Danny Feland, a facilities manager at Oklahoma University’s Advanced Radat Research Center. The Result: an insightful interview-based video packed with captivating b-roll footage.
Saving America’s Largest Wetland
The Atchafalaya River Basin amasses almost a million acres of bottomland hardwoods, swamps, bayous and backwater lakes. The Basin’s remarkable size mirrors its significant ecological, economical and cultural importance. Despite its title as the nation’s most productive river basin, Atchafalaya’s future is at risk.
For years, protecting this irreplaceable landscape has been a conservation priority for TNC. To conserve the Basin’s ecological health and productivity for years to come, TNC works with all communities who depend on it. After years of conducting research and building valuable connections, TNC embarked on its grand Atchafalaya Basin Restoration Project, a hydrological restoration project to reconnect the swamp forest located at its 5,000-acre Atchafalaya Preserve with the river. The final piece of the puzzle? A marketing campaign as monumental as the project itself.
Producing a campaign that branched across platforms from printed flyers to webpages housing compelling copy and visuals required collaboration across all creative teams.
The Goal:
Create a diverse collection of cohesive marketing materials that would draw in audiences, spark curiosity and inform people about the importance of TNC’s Atchafalaya Basin Restoration Project.
What We Delivered:
Throughout our partnership, our team of creatives produced three webpages, a library of high-quality photos and videos, print collateral including one-pagers and an impact report, micro-content for social media, newsletters and magazine inserts.
The Results:
A comprehensive marketing campaign that generated valuable touchpoints with audiences online and in person. Through impactful messaging and visuals, we not only informed audiences about the significance of the largest wetland and TNC’s restoration project but also inspired them to learn more and lend support.
An Impact Report that Lives Up to its Name
During the timeline spanning July 2017-December 2022, TNC pledged to scale up and amplify its 30-year impact plan and tackle the most critical and complex issues facing Louisiana – and it surely delivered. From floodplains and forests to coastlines and legislative action, TNC continuously impacted Louisiana lands and waters on all fronts. But now, it was time to package it all up and show local communities, supporters, stakeholders and partners the results of their hard work. That was our cue to break out the brainstorming.
After attending discovery meetings with TNC team leaders to learn about each project, its importance and its impact, our copywriters, designers and account managers got together to create an impact report that told TNC’s story over the last five years. Once all i’s were dotted and t’s crossed in the outline, our copywriters and designers collaborated to uncover elements that would strengthen the overall message, elevate TNC’s brand and keep readers turning the page.
The Final Product: An eye-catching report with clear, insightful messaging that highlights TNC’s projects, illustrating its impact and how its initiatives all intertwine together to support its mission of protecting the lands and waters on which all life depends.
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