ABOUT US

The Stanford Inn and Resort in Mendocino, California, has so much to offer, it's easy for the messaging to get swallowed whole by another one of its incredible offerings.

For example:

• The inn has its very own GROW BIOINTENSIVE® educational farm that attracts students from around the globe to learn how to sustainably grow a complete diet in the smallest amount of space possible.
• It's plant-based and houses the award-winning Ravens Restaurant -- which uses produce from its own USDA Organic certified farm 
• It's family-friendly and pet-friendly; features llamas and donkeys, and creates scavenger hunts for children
• It's created the only doggie-and-me canoe of its kind
• It's home to the Environmental Leadership Field School, an intensive hands-on and classroom experience that mobilizes future leaders from different fields to support and enhance the environment, biodiversity, and equitable relationships.
• It has its own onsite Wellness Center with Chinese medicine, nutrition and cooking classes, Massage in the Forest, creative play shops, and various exercise and meditation options, etc.

After an all-inclusive brainstorming session and creating various media assets (fact sheets, custom media calendar, media map, targeted media contacts' list, obtaining new 'action' photos to accompany the piece, creating on-the-go photo libraries, etc.), we chose to first highlight the family wellness aspect at the inn. We felt the multi-generational family angle could serve as our hub from which we could expand in any needed direction. This meant more time upfront preparing initial follow up materials for reporters that wanted to know more as a result of the initial outreach. 

One example of this was the Vibrant Families getaway, which we strategically created and promoted as a way for parents to help their children (and themselves) make healthier food choices. The main idea behind this story was to promote: the plant-based aspect, drive attention to the Mendocino location, highlight that children and parents interact technology-free by cooking together, learning nutrition as a team, and participating in family art and creativity workshops to build long-term healthy living habits. The story quickly gained momentum. As interest piqued, we matched it, by creating similar getaways more specifically-marketed toward niche demographics with careful attention to timely news happenings.