Firm hired to help with new look, marketing strategy for Artisan Trail

October 2015
The PA Wilds Center is partnering with SWELL, the creative talent behind the PA Wine Land’s recent marketing efforts, to develop an external branding and marketing strategy for the PA Wilds Artisan Trail.

Over the last few years the Artisan Trail has grown from 12 sites to close to 60, and also added 50 public art sites to its map. Many new artists and craftspeople have also joined the program (a record 26 applications came in for the Fall 2015 Jury Session).

With a strong cluster in place, the goal now is to package the experience in an inventive way to better market it to the traveling public, program managers say. The ‘package’ is likely to include print maps, an app, t-shirts, billboards and external branding assets for Trail Sites such as point of sale displays, signage, flags and the like.

“We’ve done bits and pieces of this over the years, but the Trail is in a different place now, said Ta Enos, executive director of the PA Wilds Center, which oversees the Artisan Trail. “SWELL has experience working across platforms on campaigns like this, and also with packaging experiences that take place on big landscapes. Members of the SWELL team were also involved in early Wilds branding efforts, so they are familiar with our brand. They’ve done other work relevant to what the Wilds is about, too – the ‘Heritage is Now’ campaign, for example, and the ‘Good For You’ PA Parks & Recreation campaign. We’re excited to put them to work on the Artisan Trail.”

SWELL was chosen through a competitive bid process. Enos said she expects work to begin in earnest in December and finish by March. Then it will be up to the PA Wilds Center and Artisan Trail partners to go after funding to implement the plan. “We’ve already seen interest by partners to assist with certain aspects of implementation,” Enos said. “And we have Trail Sites, such as Straub Brewery, who want to team up with us on billboards and other materials. It’s an exciting time.”

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