How Video & Storytelling Reignited a 62-Year-Old Local Favorite

The Windmill is a beloved local ice cream shop and miniature golf destination in Hopewell Township, PA. For more than 60 years, it has been a staple of family fun, known for nostalgic ice cream treats and an 18-hole mini golf course that generations have grown up loving.

While the Windmill had built such a strong brand recognition through word-of-mouth and a loyal local following, its social media presence wasn’t fully capturing the nostalgia and magic that made the business special.

Melting Tradition Into Modern Engagement

At POWER, one of our core servicing pillars is to provide a customized strategy for each of our clients. The strategy should align with their specific needs, goals, and story. After a year of working with the Windmill, we needed a new strategy that would fit their goals as their business continued to grow. 

The goals were clear and rooted in growth and community:

• Increase awareness and foot traffic 

• Reach new potential customers/followers

• Improve engagement and connection with existing followers

Although the Windmill already had a sizable social presence of over 7,000 followers, most of their content was static and underperforming before signing on with POWER. The story of the Windmill, its nostalgia, community, and day-to-day charm, wasn’t translating into meaningful engagement or reach on social media.

To move forward, we had to be experimental. We tested formats, styles, and storytelling angles to understand what would trigger connection, spark emotion, and give followers a reason to engage. Visibility was especially important for one of Windmill’s seasonal attractions, Haunted Mini-Golf, held every year from September to November. Haunted Mini-Golf draws hundreds of visitors every year,  some traveling up to 100 miles to attend. The attraction is a major driver of seasonal traffic, making strong digital outreach a necessity.   

The challenge wasn’t a lack of brand value or trust; that part was taken care of over the past 62 years. Instead, it was a storytelling gap. The challenge was to take a business that thrived on in-person experiences and translate that energy into a digital format that felt just as authentic, inviting, and memorable. But how?

Serving Up Engaging Content

The best way to bring the Windmill’s story to life was to let people see it for themselves. Instead of relying on static or posed pictures, we immersed ourselves in the daily happenings of the Windmill to capture real experiences and community moments. We focused on documenting what was already happening at the Windmill daily: ice cream being served and made, golfers lining up their next shot, and turning those moments into compelling content. By capturing experiences as they happened and sharing them in real time, the content felt natural and relatable.

Our strategy focused on short-form video for many reasons.

1. Short-form video is favored by the algorithm. Video allows content to reach beyond existing followers and land in front of new audiences. That means greater visibility in feeds, better ranking in discovery sections, and more organic reach.

2. Video tells a story. Video content feels familiar and personal, especially to longtime customers who already have an emotional connection to the brand.

We built a content approach that balanced consistency, highlighting the classic ice cream favorites that longtime customers know and love, while also introducing new and seasonal flavors to spark interest and create urgency. Mini golf footage showcased both the fun and the tradition tied to the course, especially during the Haunted Mini-Golf season. We even shot behind-the-scenes content that pulled back the curtain, allowing followers to see the care and process behind every treat.  The content invited people in and pushed them to get off their phones and visit the Windmill in person.

Our Hole-in-One Strategy

Our goal was to make the local magic that has defined the Windmill for 62 years show on their social platforms as an authentic extension of the in-person experience. And, the impact was immediate.

During September, as we promoted the Windmill’s Haunted Mini Golf alongside new exciting ice-cream flavors on Instagram and Facebook, metrics skyrocketed.

On Facebook alone, we saw a 211.3% increase in reach and an increase of 132 new followers in just one month. Video views climbed to over 200,000, while engagement increased by 293.9%, proving that audiences weren’t just seeing the content, they were connecting with it.

On Instagram, similar momentum followed. By focusing on video and storytelling, we saw a 1,205% increase in reach in just one month, reaching nearly 14,000 users who may have never interacted with the brand before. This increase in visibility supported a stronger interest in in-person visits. 

Jim Burgunder, Owner of Hopewell Windmill, shared with us the real tangible impact of our strategy:

“The Windmill in the 2025 season increased the use of social media with nicely developed videos. The results showed an increase of 12% in business purchases.  A better measurement was the number of about 12 people in just one night who had never visited the Windmill before.”

That's a tangible impact.

Perfecting the Recipe with a Long-Term Partnership

One of the biggest overarching factors in the success of the Windmill’s marketing strategy is the careful optimization over time to make sure their content is always in the sweet spot. As we learned, and are still learning what content is resonating most with their audience, we optimized by adjusting posting cadence, style, and engagement tactics accordingly. 

Long-term collaboration allows us to adapt to seasonal changes, test new formats, and lean further into what makes the Windmill unique. We built a stable strategy that grows with each operating season. Each month, we were able to take insights from each post and inform the next month’s calendar, compounding these takeaways over time. 

The Sweet Taste of Success 

By embracing a video-driven strategy, the Windmill’s social media presence is now a powerful extension of the nostalgic Windmill experience. By showing real moments, real people, and exciting, timely flavors, the Windmill now has a stronger connection with its loyal community base, while also welcoming new customers. 

Looking to turn your brand’s story into measurable growth? Let’s talk about how POWER can help bring your business to life through video and community-driven storytelling.