IF RENDERINGS ARE ALL YOU HAVE to showcase your next project, consider taking a page from developer Wade Johnson's latest venture, the 300-unit Trilogy Park in fast-growing Gwinnett County, Ga., near Atlanta. Designed to convey a high level of detail, the drawings effectively depict Trilogy Park's neighborhood design of four-corner parks, turf-buffered sidewalks, and tree-lined streetscapes to show buyers how those amenities would look once they were built.

Johnson and his agency, Denmark Advertising & Public Relations, in Atlanta, used the renderings in a booklet and postcards as part of a targeted direct mail campaign to Atlanta's omnipresent broker market and local prospective move-up buyers. A subsequent sales book leveraged the renderings and copy for cost efficiency. It served as a gentle (and graphically consistent) one-stop reminder about Trilogy Park's features and amenities once floor plans and elevations were available from the project's four builders. Trilogy Park's Web site took the drawings to yet another level, enabling online visitors to explore additional details about specific areas within each image.

“The goal was to separate Trilogy Park from the clutter and motivate people to visit the Web site and, eventually, the project,” says Johnson, who co-founded Trilogy Park with partner Warren Neel of Johnson/Neel Communities in Duluth, Ga.

In its first year, Trilogy Park netted 112 sales and 87 closings, with the average price in the low $300s. The developer has similar sales goals for 2005, especially with much of the infrastructure and common spaces finished and amenities set to open in May.

Having developed housing projects in Gwinnett County for a decade, Johnson knew prospects would trust the accuracy of Trilogy Park's renderings, which they can now view in reality. “Based on our legacy, they know we deliver high-quality communities,” he says. “The perception we created was not unbelievable.”

CAMPAIGN DETAILS Program: Direct mail (postcards and booklet); Developer: Johnson/Neel Communities, Duluth, Ga.; Cost: $25,000 (campaign design, production, and implementation); Marketing/Advertising agency: Denmark Advertising & Public Relations, Atlanta

REALISTIC RENDERINGS: Trilogy Park's initial sales booklet and postcard campaign portrayed an accurate depiction of park-life infrastructure and common spaces to attract buyers before excavation began.
REALISTIC RENDERINGS: Trilogy Park's initial sales booklet and postcard campaign portrayed an accurate depiction of park-life infrastructure and common spaces to attract buyers before excavation began.

Learn more about markets featured in this article: Atlanta, GA.