The Meridian Group Archives

The Boar’s Head Inn in Charlottesville, Virginia occupies a particular position in the Mid-Atlantic hospitality landscape — a AAA Four Diamond country resort affiliated with the University of Virginia, set against the Blue Ridge Mountains, with an Old Mill Room dining room that had earned 16 consecutive Four Diamond awards, an intimate spa, championship golf, and meeting facilities capable of hosting groups that demand both professional-grade conference infrastructure and the kind of unhurried elegance that only a genuine country inn provides. The positioning line said it plainly: a country resort at the University of Virginia. The creative challenge was to make each of the inn’s distinct offerings feel like the primary reason to go — without any of them contradicting the others.

Serving as creative director, account executive, and photography director as a contractor through The Meridian Group, I developed and produced a segmented print advertising campaign system built around a single unifying campaign line: “It’s at the heart of our charming inn.” The line did precisely what a good campaign line should — it answered every question the campaign asked while reinforcing the inn’s essential character with each repetition. Each ad led with a direct question addressed to a specific audience motivation, then answered it with the same quiet confidence.

For the leisure escape market: “Looking for a Captivating Blue Ridge Resort Escape?” For the meetings market: “Looking for an Unrivaled Resort Meeting Destination?” For the dining market: “Looking for an Epicurean Destination?” — with the Old Mill Room’s 16 consecutive AAA Four Diamond Awards doing the persuasion work in the body copy. For the spa market: “Looking for Your Own Personal Oasis?” — accompanied by a $99 Lavender Salt Body Scrub promotional piece that made the spa feel accessible as well as luxurious. Rate promotional executions — Summer Midweek Rates from $139, Summer Sunday Brunch at $49 — completed the system, giving the campaign direct response capability alongside the brand advertising.

Photography direction was conducted on location at the resort — a more extensive production than the parallel Kingsmill Resort engagement, involving both property photography and model setups across the guest rooms, the Old Mill Room dining room, the spa treatment areas, the fireside sitting areas, and the grounds. Each setup was directed to carry the warmth, intimacy, and unhurried quality that the campaign line promised. The photography didn’t illustrate the ads. It was the ads.

Creative Direction, Photography Direction, Account Executive, Print Advertising, Rate Promotional Advertising, Segmented Market Campaigns, Print Production Management

Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Virginia — an Anheuser-Busch resort property on the James River — is one of the Mid-Atlantic region’s premier conference and leisure destinations: 16 dedicated meeting rooms certified by the International Association of Conference Centers, three championship golf courses, a European-style spa, award-winning culinary staff, and within easy reach of Busch Gardens, Water Country USA, and Colonial Williamsburg. Marketing a property with that range of offerings to audiences as different as Fortune 500 meeting planners, defense industry procurement officers, and family vacation travelers requires not one campaign but several — each speaking with precision to a distinctly different set of motivations.

Serving as creative director and account executive for the Kingsmill account as a contractor through The Meridian Group, I developed and produced a segmented print advertising campaign system that addressed each audience on its own terms while maintaining the visual coherence and brand authority of the Kingsmill identity.

For the corporate meetings market, the campaign led with the pressure and consequence that meeting planners carry: “Medical Breakthroughs Don’t Happen Overnight. But Your Next Meeting Can.” and “How Some Fortune 500 Companies Got to Be So Fortunate.” — direct, confident lines that spoke to the decision-maker’s professional responsibility rather than the resort’s amenities. The amenities were listed in the body copy. The headline earned the read.

The defense and government market campaign was perhaps the most conceptually precise piece in the collection. Defense-related groups meeting at a resort need discretion as much as they need conference facilities — and “We Can Keep a Secret” acknowledged that need directly, with a supporting piece listing defense industry clients whose identities were, of course, redacted. It’s a campaign that works precisely because it demonstrates the thing it promises.

For the family leisure market, the campaign leveraged Kingsmill’s Travel Channel Top Ten Family Resort recognition — “You’re Number One at this Travel Channel Top Ten Family Resort” — turning a third-party credential into a consumer-facing headline that did the persuasion work efficiently and credibly.

Photography direction for both the meetings and accommodations campaigns was my responsibility, conducted on location at the resort. The conference room imagery, the resort property photography, and the accommodations visuals were all directed to serve the specific campaign they appeared in — the meetings photography communicating professional-grade facility quality, the leisure photography communicating the warmth and ease of a family destination.

Creative Direction, Account Executive, Photography Direction, Print Advertising, Direct Mail, Campaign Strategy, Segmented Market Campaigns, Print Production Management

Tag: The Meridian Group

Boar’s Head Inn — Advertising Campaign and Photography Direction

Kingsmill Resort — Advertising Campaigns, Photography Direction