I must confess that when we landed a project for Space Farms Zoo & Museum I behaved a bit childishly. “Yay! Space Farms. Llamas,” I exclaimed while jumping up and down.
Let me explain.
As a kid growing up in suburban New Jersey I’d heard about Space Farms and had always longed to visit. Friends who’d trekked to rural Sussex – which is 90 minutes from NYC – talked about the bears, snakes, tigers, and llamas that they’d seen and in some cases touched. (Llamas were and are my most favorite animal thanks to the book “Is Your Mama a Llama?”) Though I never actually made it to Space Farms as a child, I did get my chance when we won the business, as you can see. (That’s me + Tiny Tim.)
What we immediately learned about the brand is that my reaction’s not unique. Lots of people who grew up in the area know the name and have positive memories of the place, which was founded by Ralph and Elizabeth Space during the Great Depression, and is now being run by the fourth generation of family members.
In our work for Space Farms over the last couple months we’ve aimed to tap into these good feelings, and re-introduce old visitors to the attraction as adults so they’ll come back. We’re encouraging these folks and other influencers to spread the word about the unique rustic charm of the experience through traditional media and social media – Space Farms has an active Facebook page with thousands of followers and we’ve done targeted blogger outreach.
There are a lot of brands – Radio Flyer, Stride Rite, and Colorforms – that have strong connections to fans who grew up with them. It’s a good position to be in since those fans, who now have children of their own, are typically eager to share the experiences of their youth with their kids – a point made in this recent New York Times article.
The key for brands like these is they need to remind old loyalists they’re still around and make themselves relevant again – sometimes by embracing fans through new platforms, or by injecting new life into a vintage product. Colorforms, for example, is re-releasing an old favorite: a Michael Jackson dress up set; while Stride Rite has cultivated more than 90,000 fans on Facebook.
Nostalgia’s a strong motivator. As a child, I always wanted to kiss a llama. Check.