Client
The Live Wildly FoundationFlorida, USA (statewide)
Scope
Content strategy · Social systems · Video & photography · Strategic communications · Experiential campaigns · Web design · Strategic partnerships · Documentary development
Overview
Live Wildly Foundation exists to connect people to nature and increase awareness of the Florida Wildlife Corridor—one of the most ambitious landscape connectivity projects in the United States.
When Rickel Jones Creative joined in 2023, Live Wildly was in the midst of a strategic shift. Our role was to help reposition Live Wildly as a movement-building brand—bridging grassroots outdoor culture and institutional conservation by grounding science communication in lived experience.
3× Industry Average Organic Engagement Rate
10,000+ Pledge Signatures
2.5× Social Audience Growth
20+ Events
The Challenge
Conservation marketing often speaks to an echo chamber. Organizations use language, imagery, and frameworks that resonate with people who are already engaged. The challenge for Live Wildly was to translate complex conservation science and values into authentic stories that resonated with the outdoor community itself.
How do you connect people to conservation if they don’t yet realize their daily lives and outdoor experiences depend on it?
Our guiding principles became:
- Moving away from abstract or institutional messaging
- Meeting people where they already felt connected — to places, activities, and Florida State pride
- Building credibility simultaneously with recreationists, conservation partners, and public agencies
Photography by Sara Sheehy and Lauren Yoho
Our Approach
Rickel Jones Creative led a shift toward authentic, experience-driven storytelling, using outdoor culture as the entry point for conservation awareness.
We focused on building systems that could scale—starting with high-visibility digital channels, expanding into in-person experiences, and ultimately anchoring the brand in cultural partnerships that extended beyond traditional nonprofit marketing.
Rickel Jones Creative positioned Live Wildly as a trusted bridge between outdoor recreation and conservation—helping people see that if they love a place, protecting it is a natural next step.
Logo variations designed by Julie Estrella
Authentic Social as Cultural Entry Point
We took over Live Wildly’s social channels in 2023 with the goal of making the content feel grassroots, credible, and reflective of real outdoor life in Florida.
Rather than influencer-style parody and trend-chasing, we focused on:
- The lived experience of outdoorsmen and women
- Humor, curiosity, and local specificity
- Outdoor inspiration as a gateway to science communication
Flagship series included:
- Exploring Wild Florida doc-style social series
- Florida-themed “silly songs” responding to current events
- Unseen Florida, trail camera moments
- Monthly outdoor event roundups
This approach earned a 6.5% organic engagement rate across channels — 3× the industry average for conservation nonprofits — and drove 2.5× audience growth.
Inspiration to Action: Events & Campaigns
To move audiences from awareness to participation, we paired digital storytelling with real-world engagement.
Sing Out Loud Festival
A top-of-funnel cultural moment that introduced conservation values through music, art, and immersive experience.
- View the Sing Out Loud Case Study
Explore the Corridor Week
A statewide volunteer campaign across Florida’s award-winning state parks, developed and hosted in partnership with the Florida State Parks Foundation. The aim was to make it as simple for state parks as possible: tell us what you want done, how many people to send, and we’ll take care of the rest.
We led the development of:
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- A modular branding and signage kit for partners statewide. We called it the “volunteer kit in a box”.
- A dedicated landing page, event sign ups, and email communications
- Targeted digital advertising to drive sign-ups
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The results:
Year 1
300 volunteers
Year 2
400 volunteers
Building a Movement Through Partnership
A cornerstone of Live Wildly’s evolution was the development of cultural partnerships that extended the brand beyond traditional nonprofit channels.
We helped launch a partnership with Florida native musician JJ Grey, engaging a fan-based movement model that positioned JJ as a trusted voice for conservation. This included:
- Wrapping his tour bus in Live Wildly branding with a QR-driven lead capture
- Developing campaign content that tied music, place, and protection together
- Beginning production on a feature-length music and nature documentary—touring and screening with JJ Grey in 2026
Content Infrastructure & Web Platform
To support this expanded scope, we led a full website redesign in 2024, collaborating with NowSpeed on backend development.
In parallel, we:
- Revamped and targeted Live Wildly’s newsletter and strategic communications
- Launched the Join the Movement pledge campaign
- Built a content library of 14,000+ photo and video assets across Florida’s state parks, preserves, and wildlife management areas
This included leading a multi-day Okefenokee expedition with National Geographic photographers, drone pilots, and a naturalist guide — laying the groundwork for storytelling beyond Florida’s borders.
Impact & Growth
Over the course of the partnership, Live Wildly evolved from a fledgling startup into a respected conservation partner with statewide cultural relevance.
Key outcomes included:
6.5% average social engagement rate
2.5× growth in social audience
10,000+ pledge signatures in the first year of Join the Movement
700 volunteers organized
Major partnerships established with:
JJ Grey
Discovery Channel’s Misty Wells
Florida State Parks Foundation
The brand reputation and institutional credibility gained through the Live Wildly x Rickel Jones Creative partnership helped set the stage for a 2026 partnership with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
Takeaway
By rooting conservation storytelling in outdoor culture and lived experience, we helped Live Wildly become more than a nonprofit, it became a movement. One that helps people understand that the places they love don’t protect themselves.
Our Role
Rickel Jones Creative served as social media management, content strategist, creative lead and production partner, leading multi-disciplinary teams of in-house and freelance creatives while overseeing overall creative direction, content development, asset production, and experiential storytelling across the organization.
Credits
Creative Director: Aaron Rickel Jones
Storytelling Director: Sara Sheehy
Social Media Coordinator: Johanna Pryor
Experiential Producer: Michelle Yepez
Graphic Design: John Foster
Cartography Design: Angeline Meeks
Video Production: Aaron Rickel Jones
Photography: Sara Sheehy, George McKenzie Jr., F-Stop Foundation, Lauren Yoho