Marketing Update – Nov 2021

Film inspires a new crop of Ecovillagers

I’m delighted to report that the Witchcliffe Ecovillage film has been watched by 4,089 people at the last count and without doubt contributed to the rush of sales enquiries we’ve been having ever since its September publication. Almost everyone who contacts the sales office has already watched it, which was our hope.

Thanks for sharing it with your family and friends and for all the beautiful, heart-warming comments many of you were kind enough to send us. It gives the whole Ecovillage team great joy to hear that our work is appreciated and know that so many others share our values.

The film has now replaced our 1.5-hour Sunday sales presentations as our primary introduction to the project. We’re now conducting Friday afternoon site tours, details of which you can find on our Events Calendar. We strongly encourage you to watch the film first, before you come along to a tour, as the tour is an opportunity to see the site and ask more detailed questions about sales and specific lots, not a comprehensive overview of the project.

Ecovillage in the press

With lot sales and enquiries as strong as they are at the moment, we find ourselves in the fortunate position of not having to spend a lot of time and money on traditional advertising. The film was our first major marketing initiative outside the website and it has been an unequivocal success.

Despite not actively seeking media exposure, word is getting out and we were delighted to feature in the UDIA’s (Urban Development Institute of Australia) member magazine, ‘The Urbanist’ in October. Trumpeting the headline: “South West Ecovillage Leads The World”, the two-page article was a brief overview of the project with a focus on our Life Cycle Assessment process.

Sustainable House Day 2021

This year’s Sustainable House Day on 17 October was a largely online affair and the Witchcliffe Ecovillage participated in an hour-long webinar titled “Creating sustainable communities: Ecovillages and co-housing”. Anna Cumming, Editor of Sanctuary Magazine was MC for the session and I joined other panellists from The Cape (VIC), Shepherds Ground (NSW) and Melinda Marshall from Co-operation Housing, which is facilitating the development of Kyloring Housing Cooperative on the Ecovillage’s aged and dependent care site.

We barely scratched the surface of the floods of questions that came in from more than 500 viewers all across Australia who were interested in ecovillages and co-housing. Hopefully next year the first of our Witchcliffe Ecovillage homeowners will be able to open the doors to their beautiful, efficient, sustainable new homes, as I have no doubt there will be crowds of people interested in what we’re creating here.

Arcologic wins design award

Congratulations to John Damant of Arcologic Design on winning the Best Conceptual / Unbuilt Design for 2021 in the Design Matters awards for ‘Kulbardi House’ in the Witchcliffe Ecovillage. This spectacular home sits proudly on the corner of Cluster 1B overlooking the central dam and conservation area to the south east. We all can’t wait to see this beauty when it’s built!