This was an interesting pitch that turned into a fully formed organization that took off in the surrounding area. The Dorchester is a high-rise apartment building off of Skinker, a very affluent street. They faced the problem of people overpricing their apartments and not even bothering to tour, as they were surrounded by high-rise million dollar condos. They wanted to promote the idea that living by Forest Park was not only affordable to everyone, but had many unseen benefits other than the close location to the park.

We pitched creating an organization promoting life in the neighborhoods surrounding Forest Park, including DeMun, U-City, and Hi-Pointe, utilizing a full online and social media effort. ForestParkLiving.org would feature articles about life in the neighborhood, reviews of bars and restaurants in the area, and contests with prizes provided by the Dorchester. Basically, we wanted to make “Forest Park Forever” for the area outside of Forest Park. To top this all off, we would also attach a webcam to the top of the Dorchester apartment building, bringing traffic in for people wanting to watch the sunrise from the east, or events like the Forest Park Balloon Race. Gave us a great tactic for repeat traffic, content whenever we needed to get something new into the either, and allowed for a “see these views everyday” plug for the company funding these efforts.

We launched the site, immediately partnered with organizations and businesses in the area, and had a good amount of traffic following our “meetup” happy hours and major events like the balloon race. We also launched the brand on Facebook and Twitter, creating a post schedule and and content calendar to allow for timely updates and efforts to keep the conversation going. This project allowed me to improve my video editing skills too. Forest Park remodeled their bike trails, and me being an avid biker, I gave everyone a tour from a camera mounted to my handlebars.

Forest Park Ride from Matt Fitzpatrick on Vimeo.