In the fall of 2021, Canada finally reopened its borders to US travelers after being closed for nearly 18 months due to Covid-19. The region of Atlantic Canada – comprised of the four provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland & Labrador – wanted to advise travelers as quickly as possible that visitors would once again be welcomed.
To complement our extensive media relations program about the border reopening, we also tapped into a vein of existing communications gold: social influencers who had previously visited the region. By repurposing previous content with new messaging, we saw a way to instantly generate awareness for the exciting news…while at the same time increasing the ROI from the original visits.
Timing was key to the success of this initiative. We leveraged the runway for the official announcement to lock in the selected influencers and help prep their content to be ready to “go live” the moment the border opened. Once we knew that the borders would be opening soon, we handpicked 10 influencers who met our engagement/audience criteria and had produced rich, compelling content for Atlantic Canada provinces in the past.
We negotiated all contracts and deliverables prior to border opening and provided a custom “swipe-up/link” sticker for use in Instagram stories. A custom landing page for the border opening campaign gave all the influencers turnkey access to share more information through all their social channels and blog posts.
The results – as anticipated – were extensive and fast. More than 100 pieces of content – social posts, stories, and more – were shared in a tight window of time surrounding the border opening date.
This content reached more than 3.5 million travel-hungry consumers at a fraction of the cost it would have taken to host these influencers again for a second visit.