• by Karl Greenberg , June 30, 2014

Parks and Recreation and Land Rover. No, that is not a forthcoming co-branded content project from the automaker and NBC. It could be, however, as the company has done lots of customer content around the outdoors. And since July is, in fact, Parks and Recreation Month, the Mahwah, N.J.-based Land Rover U.S.A. is in the midst of a month-long content project, “31 Days, 31 Parks.” 

Each day of the month, the company will tout a different U.S. national park, starting with Joshua Tree, using #GoSomewhereRare and Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The company will post facts, photos and tips on what you can do in the outdoors (presumably in a Land Rover). The program also encourages people to upload their own park photos, and incorporates content from guest travel adventure writers and Land Rover owners.

Kim Kyaw, digital and social media manager at Land Rover, tells Marketing Daily that this campaign represents the first time the company has focused on U.S. national parks in a marketing program, although it almost always uses a natural phenomenon as a backdrop for advertising and content. "Content for us is key,” she says, “and we liked this because of Land Rover's ‘go anywhere and do anything’ spirit." 

The automaker last fall promoted the Range Rover Sport with a custom content campaign via a partnership with Outside magazine, detailing the achievements of adventurers and other "driven" people. 

For the “31 Days” effort, the company is touting its five-model lineup, including Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, LR4, LR2. Kyaw says the company has 2.2 million fans on social media with 150,000 on Twitter, and 1.7 million on Google Plus, and 60,000 on Instagram. "That is one of our newer channels," she says of the latter. "And for Instagram, it's been all organic growth."

Land Rover also posted its best May sales ever in the U.S. with a 28% increase over 2013.