The Patch
CASE STUDY
From Fall Favorite to Four-Season Tradition: How AAMP Built The Patch a Year-Round Marketing System in Five Weeks
Every fall, thousands of Front Range families head out to The Patch in Kiowa to get lost in the corn maze, ride the hay wagon and bite into a cider donut fresh from the fryer. Dusty and Kathy Smith opened the family-owned agritourism destination in 2016, and it has become a fall favorite for families across the region.
But most of those families only knew one season. Summer Nights had room to grow, and Christmas had never run.
When a season doesn’t wait, neither can your marketing. That’s where AAMP came in.
The Challenge: One Big Season, Three Quiet Ones
The Patch came to us in mid-August, a month before fall opened. Their website wasn’t built to sell, they weren’t sure their tracking was working, and nothing moved a fall visitor toward a second visit. Christmas had no awareness at all.
They needed a partner who could:
- Turn one-season visitors into families who come back all year
- Plan a first-ever Christmas season from zero
- Replace the website with one built to sell tickets and passes
- Be ready for fall before the gates opened
Our Approach: Every Season Gets a Reason
Fall became the front door, and every visit sells the next one.
AAMP built the strategy around one idea, “make every season a family tradition,” and gave it a product to carry it: the Patch Passport. A custom website, paid media and a content system worked together to point every family toward their next reason to return.
Meet Walter
Walter the steer has always been part of The Patch family. Named after Kathy’s grandfather, he’s a fan favorite, but he had never been the face of the brand.
So we brought the Smiths’ vision for him to life. Today, families meet Walter everywhere: across social and ads, and in a print-ready version made for photo ops around the farm. He’s the face of The Patch, and he gives families someone to follow between visits, which is exactly what a four-season brand needs.
Built While the Season Was Already Coming
There was no room for a slow rollout. Our strategy, web, creative and paid teams worked side by side to launch a full custom website, a brand-new look, Walter and the fall campaigns in about five weeks. The new site went live the day The Patch opened its gates.
The Results: A Fast Launch and a Strong Start
- A custom website, built from scratch and live on opening day, five weeks after kickoff
- 14x reported return on Google Ads in the first weeks of the fall campaign
- An opening weekend well ahead of the previous year, according to the Smiths
- A first-ever Christmas season planned from zero while fall was still in full swing
Why It Worked
The Patch already had what families return for: a beloved fall tradition, animals with personality and owners with a clear picture of the place. What it needed was a partner who could connect one visit to the next.
- One Idea, Every Season: Every touchpoint gives families a reason to come back.
- Characters Over Attractions: Walter gives families someone to follow all year.
- A Team Built to Move: Strategy, web, creative and paid worked together, not in sequence, so nothing waited on anything else, and The Patch opened with a site ready to sell.
Ready to Turn Your Slow Season into a Tradition?
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