woman walking on the Merchantville Trail in the springtime

The Circuit Trails

Brand Awareness

Content Campaign

The Challenge

The Circuit Trails are a unique network of more than 800 miles of planned, multi-use trails in Greater Philadelphia and central to southern New Jersey. D+P helped successfully launch the Circuit Trails brand in 2016 and then grew awareness of this network. Then, in 2020-21, D+P was handed a new challenge: help the Circuit Trails strengthen users’ connection to trails, especially in diverse communities near the trail network.

The Approach

Using data and location research commissioned by the Circuit Trails’ Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee (JEDI), D+P built a communications strategy that emphasized content PR storytelling and community engagement with new, targeted audiences. D+P created a campaign titled My Circuit Trails, which brought to life the idea that every trail user, whether a seasoned pro or new traveler, can find ways to make the trails their own. The campaign featured video content creation, influencer engagement, in-person community activations with bi-lingual street teams, targeted paid media and social media created in close collaboration with our client, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.

The Results 

A new interactive web page was developed and launched to be the nexus for the My Circuit Trails campaign to host videos, relevant blogs with resources for trail users and ways to get involved. The primary content created was the #MyCircuitTrails video series. D+P filmed, edited and produced six feature story videos in as many months “starring” diverse trail users and community members, which amassed more than 50,000 views collectively. D+P also created #MyCircuitTrails Summer Celebrations – a series of community events in the focus areas where we leveraged a paid media partnership with urban contemporary radio station WDAS FM to bring music and cold treats out onto the trails in “block party” fashion. All promotional materials were provided in both English and Spanish to increase access, including newly designed key tags with QR codes that led to the new My Circuit Trails web page. More than 1,000 key tags were distributed to community members through event activations and at community hubs like shopping centers in geographical focus areas identified by the JEDI research. Throughout the campaign, D+P also continued ongoing communications support – writing blog content, conducting media relations, creating monthly newsletters and supporting social media activities.