Client

The Cardinal at North Hills is an upscale, continuing care retirement community in the prestigious North Hills area of Raleigh. An urban community with everything that North Hills has to offer, The Cardinal has partnered with Duke University Health System to provide residents a truly unique independent living experience. Once complete, the community will provide senior living services to more than 200 residents.

Challenge

The Cardinal faced adversity with several false starts prior to obtaining their start-up certificate from the North Carolina Department of Insurance. It was important to gain consumer confidence within the region as a community ready to begin construction and begin accepting reservation deposits.

Solution

Walker developed a strategy to romance prospects at a theme party in order to gain trust and foster loyalty as part of a larger lead retention initiative. The luxury event was designed to instill a sense of community and excitement, and encourage prospective residents to become ambassadors of the community by making referrals. The invitation invited guests to resolve to have more fun, meet new neighbors, make new friends, learn to swing dance and celebrate every day.

Keeping with the era of the prospective residents, a 15-piece swing band was hired to entertain guests with music that reminded them of yesteryear. Professional dancers performed impromptu exhibits and encouraged guests to join in the excitement. Champagne was bottled and labeled solely for The Cardinal at North Hills and was presented as a commemorative gift to parting guests.

Results

Despite a slow start, weakened real estate market and national economy, The Cardinal at North Hills, during its first two months of accepting reservations, had more than 50 Charter Members select floor plans and place a ten percent deposit on a residence of their choice, while 100 others placed a thousand dollar deposit to hold their spot in line. This early success was evidence of the effectiveness of this event and other roll-out strategies implemented by Walker PR on behalf of The Cardinal.

The invitation, designed around the theme, won a Bronze award from the National Active Retirement Association in the best overall direct mail piece category.