IF MTV IS ANY INDICATION, there’s nothing more appealing to college students than spring break at an amenities-packed resort. St. Augustine, Fla.- based FortGroup Development Corp. takes the studentslove- fun concept to the next level at Wave’s Z Islander, a prototype student housing community serving Texas A&M University that opened this fall with a marketing campaign that was, in two words, totally gnarly.
FAST FACTS
DEVELOPER: FortGroup Development Corp.
MANAGER: SuiteUSA
TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC: Off-campus student housing
WEB DEVELOPMENT BUDGET: $180,000
COST OF MOBILE LEASING OFFICE: $200,000
2010 OCCUPANCY: 99 percent
MARKETING EPHEMERA: Glow-in-the-dark Frisbees, ping pong balls, beach towels, T-shirts, keychains, wristbands, and more
Across a campaign blitz that included a 3-D virtual visit-powered website, a pimped out leasing trailer, Off-campus student housing and on-campus beach towel, Frisbee, and T-shirt giveaways, FortGroup reemphasized at every instance that living at Wave’s Z Islander was going to be a blast.
Everything is designed from the outset to be fun,” says FortGroup director of branding Jody Marcil. “We set out to do the craziest things, things with no known boundaries, and we do them.”
So crazy, in fact, that FortGroup already has additional Islander communities planed for Daytona, Fla., Jacksonville, Fla., and Tuscaloosa, Ala., where you can be sure that the firm will again take their marketing and branding mission to the max.
