Spirit of the Canadian Badlands — Storytellers Wanted!

The Canadian Badlands of Alberta is a unique travel and tourism destination in Canada’s “Wild West.” With scenic drives from several urban centres, the Canadian Badlands has unique coulee landscapes and hoodoo rock formations. The region in Alberta is famous for rich deposits of fossils, including dinosaur bones, unearthed at the UNESCO World Heritage Site Dinosaur Provincial Park and showcased at the world-class Royal Tyrrell Museum.

In other words, it’s the perfect place for a road trip. Come explore with us!

Overview

Hecktic Media Inc., on behalf of Canadian Badlands, is looking for

  • 6 travel bloggers and
  • 2 Instagrammers

to embark on road trips across the region. Bloggers will travel for 6-7 days, and Instagrammers will travel for 4-5 days between July and August, 2017.

Details – Bloggers

Part 1: The first part of each trip will be spent shadowing a Canadian artist (actor/songwriter) Tom Jackson as he brings out the “Spirit of the Badlands”. As Tom says, “the spirit is not only in the land, but it is in the people”. The stories from those who live there are what will make others want to visit the region.

The campaigns with Tom will last approximately three days. The influencers will be tasked with capturing the experience and the stories and developing their own stories. There will be a videographer capturing everything as well.

Note: This experience with Tom is not replicable for tourists. He is an enigmatic storyteller who can expertly help extract stories from anyone he talks to (also thanks to his fame). He also likes to, as he refers to it, “follow the bouncing ball” when he is captured by a story. Don’t expect to hold to a strict itinerary, and be sure to wear good walking shoes just in case.

Part 2: The remaining 2-3 days will be self-guided — the Badlands are yours to explore!

Details – Instagrammers

Instagrammers will embark on an approximate 5 day self-driven road trip through the Canadian Badlands!

Approximate Dates

  • Campaign 1 –  Jul 26 – Aug 2, 2017 – 2 influencers
  • Campaign 2 – Aug 10 – 16, 2017 – 2 influencers
  • Campaign 3 – Aug 19 – 27, 2017 – 1-2 influencers

Locations

  • With Tom – TBD. Tom has expressed interest in potentially visiting a reserve to connect the First Nations angle (Tom being Cree and the Blackfoot of Alberta – once enemies, but no longer)
  • Self-drive – TBD – CBT to send over wishlist and partners. Writing on Stone is a must for everyone.

Minimum Deliverables – Bloggers

  • 2 blog posts, one for your blog and one for the client’s website. We’re not looking for “listicle” type stories – nothing along the lines of “5 Things to do in the Badlands”, but instead narratives and experiential travel punctuated by photography and/or video from the region
  • Social media (real-time)
    • Daily IG, IG stories, FB, Twitter – in the moment
    • Pinterest – when completed – 1-2 posts
  • Social media (post-campaign)
    • Promoting blog posts
  • If you have additional outlets you believe you could secure for this campaign, please advise of that as well

Minimum Deliverables – Instagrammers

  • Daily Instagram photos
  • Daily Instagram stories
  • 5 high-resolution images for marketing purposes

Requirements

  • Influencers should have a strong presence in North America.
  • Looking for mature travelers focusing on weekend and family travel.
  • Writing should be story-focused — no “Top 10” articles, please.
  • You have been blogging for at least two years and have a strong interest in the topics mentioned.

Interested influencers will also be evaluated based on: the strength of engagement across their blogs and social media accounts, the offer of exposure, and the fee required.

This is a paid marketing campaign, which means that you will commit to guaranteed minimums for exposure across your blog and social media accounts, follow HMI’s negative review policy, as well as provide statistics post-campaign. You will be required to sign HMI’s standard service agreement upon award.

To apply, fill out the application form by June 9th, 2017.

Questions? Contact megan@hmi.marketing.