The archive · Brand & Identity · Marketing decision · 2022–2023
EcoFlow turns an abandoned Nagano ski lodge into a bookable off-grid 'EcoFlow House'
EcoFlow restored a derelict Nagano ski lodge, powered it with its clean-energy hubs, and opened it for anyone to book and experience off-grid life.
EcoFlow
What it had to solve
EcoFlow had to demonstrate what its products actually do and inspire the Japanese market to live a sustainable, clean-energy lifestyle. Specs and ads could claim it, but the experience itself was missing.
How it works
EcoFlow sells portable power stations and fixed clean-energy hubs, but a sustainable, off-grid lifestyle is hard to convey in an ad. The answer was to stop demonstrating the products and start living in them.
The company reopened an abandoned former ski and camping lodge in the remote, off-grid part of Ina City, Nagano Prefecture, and renovated it with both portable and fixed power hubs into a modern living space for groups of friends and families. The EcoFlow House opened for customers and anyone interested in experiencing what living off clean energy actually feels like.
The D&AD awards archive preserves the project as 'Second Life, EcoFlow House'. Its page records no visitor numbers, but that is the point the case makes: the creative move was to make a renewable-energy claim into a place people could book, rather than a promise they had to take on faith.
Why it lands
- A lodge that sits off-grid makes the product's job tangible before anyone reads a spec sheet.
- Letting families and friends stay turns a one-way product demo into an experience people choose and remember.
- Using both portable and fixed hubs shows the range by running a whole living space, not a single gadget.
- A real house gives the sustainability argument local stakes instead of generic green claims.
What it did
The D&AD awards archive carries the project and records no booking or sales figures. What it documents is the demonstration becoming the destination: a derelict off-grid lodge rebuilt on clean energy and open to the public, so the sustainable lifestyle EcoFlow sells is something people can literally stay in.
What you can take
When the product is a way of living, don't describe the lifestyle — rebuild it somewhere real and let people stay in it.
Since then
The D&AD awards archive files 'Second Life, EcoFlow House' under its design work, preserving the project's record. The page reports no visitor or booking numbers, so the documented aftermath is the building itself: the abandoned lodge reopened as a functioning off-grid house, available to customers and to anyone curious enough to experience clean-energy living firsthand.
Sources
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe the brief you are staring at, and see who has been given the same problem.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card