How to Get a Canadian TB Contest in 4 Easy Steps

How many of my fellow Geocachers are also tired of “residents of the USA only” Geocaching trackable promotions? Well, I’ve tried the route of complaining until I’m blue in the face and that didn’t work. But here’s an idea that will.

If all of us follow these four simple steps, we’ll get the attention of Canadian outdoors & activity retailers and soon have our very own Canadian Geocaching Trackable promotion. 

An important point to understand is that it is not Geocaching.com who decides where a trackable promotion will be active - that decision is primarily made by the marketing (and legal?) teams from the company sponsoring the promotion. So let's motivate some marketing teams to get on board with this!

1. Share the Message on Facebook and Twitter

Sample Twitter Messages:

Hey @MEC want a deep reach to 30k #Canadian #outdoor enthusiasts? Try a #geocaching TB promotion! https://www.geocaching.com/promotions/

@CanadianTire DYK there’s 30,000 active #outdoor enthusiasts across #Canada you could get to promote your message? https://www.geocaching.com/promotions/

Sample Facebook Messages:

There’s a huge marketing success secret that @TimHortons doesn’t know! Like and share if you agree they could get 30,000 Canadians passionately sharing their message if they launched a #Geocaching Trackable promotion! https://www.geocaching.com/promotions/

Like and share if you think @CanadianTire should launch a #Canadian #Geocaching trackable promotion for us 30,000+ awesome Canuck geocachers, eh! https://www.geocaching.com/promotions/

2. Make Sure to Attach a Picture

It’s a proven fact that photos add “stickiness” to tweets and posts, and attract more attention. Check through this post for some pictures you can use, but don’t let me limit your awesome creativity!

3.  Support Each Other!

If you see one of these posts or tweets from a fellow Geocacher, make sure to like, repost, retweet, etc. the message. The more activity these messages have the more the target companies will pay attention.

4. Share Your Awesome Ideas

I KNOW you’re smarter than I am, so if you can think of other companies we could all be targeting these messages to, share your ideas with all of us Canadian Geocachers by using the hashtags #Geocaching and #TrackableCanada on Twitter, and posting to Facebook groups like “You Might be a Geocacher if…” and the other various Geocaching online groups.

The more of us that get active posting these messages, and the more likely sponsors we target, the better our odds of getting a CANADIAN trackable promotion launched!

Win a Geocoin/Trackable Tag from CachingNW.com

It's contest time again! So Geocachers, how would you like to win these for your collection? 

Our friends at Landsharkz have generously donated a set of the geocoin and trackable tag created for their 2016 Alaskan Geocaching Cruise Adventure, and you could be the new owner!

This contest is super-easy to be entered into, and we'd love to see you be able to show off your new trackables, so don't delay!

Here's what you need to do:

• Visit the Landsharkz travel webpage
• Check out the various stops on their 2017  Canada - New England Cruise
• EMail us at CachingNW (feedback@cachingnw.com) letting us know:
• Your geocaching name
• One of the ports of call (cities visited) on the 2017 Canada - New England Cruise

Make sure you send your email BEFORE 9:00pm Pacific on Wednesday Sept 21 and your name may be announced as the winner by the Landsharkz when they join us on the Caching in the Northwest podcast Thursday, September 22 at 9:00pm Pacific.

So that's it - email a correct answer and your Geocaching.com name to feedback@cachingNW.com ASAP and you are automatically entered!

Good luck you guys, we're looking forward to hearing from you.

And remember, whether you are entering geocoin contests or moving trackables; to cache safely, and cache often!

The LANMonkeys

The 2016 Great Podcast TB Race!

In case you hadn't heard yet - and are interested in podcasters getting competitive and trash-talking each other (well, I don't know about that) - my friend and fellow Geocaching podcaster has accepted my challenge for an "across the continent" TB race, and we will be updating race progress each week on our respective podcasts.

Michael Miller of the Cache and Release podcast handed me a pretty fancy trackable to bring back to Vancouver, BC and I left my trackable with him when we recently visited Orlando, Florida. 

We each dropped them off in a cache and they are on a mission to get "back home" but it's not just about which one gets home first. We've devised a point system where there are 5 points for being the first TB back home, but an additional point for each state or province visited, plus a point for every photo someone takes with the TB. 

 For more info on the TB race and just some general fun in Disney World's EPCOT Canada Pavilion, check out this video! 

To hear the latest updates on the race, you can also tune in to the Caching in the Northwest podcast.

And most of all, remember to always "cache safely, and cache often!"

- The LANMonkeys

A Cookie Comes Home...

You may have heard that last week I was down at the Lilypad (Geocaching.com HQ) for a tour and to record some interviews for Caching In the Northwest. What you may not have heard is the neat story of the trackable I brought home.

Many of us have sent out trackables, and help others along their "missions" and for the most part, we really don't know what happens to them. Some arrive at their intended destinations after many detours, and many just "disappear."

This story is about a trackable "cookie" that went on an exciting worldwide adventure, and then through a series of coincidences made it's way back home again - and I'm so excited to have played a small part in making that happen.

Local geocachers may know Dave The Best (the guy who gets everyone's attention at CITOs and Flashmobs?) - well he's the owner of the "COOKIE!" trackable. In his story I've copied below for you to read, I'm the "fellow cacher" he was Tweeting with who brought "COOKIE" home for Dave.

Dave tells this story so well, that I'll quote him instead of retelling it myself:

"On April 28 2014, I dropped this a cache in Cuba. It was then picked up and traveled all around the world to Austria, Slovakia, Cyprus, Poland, France, Germany, Italy, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Portugal, Luxembourg, Japan, and Belgium, before being brought back to North America and dropped in the Groundspeak HQ cache. 
On April 21, 2015, I noticed a fellow cacher post on social media about heading down to the HQ. Less than an hour later, I get a notification that my TB was dropped off there. I tweeted at the cacher asking him to pick it up, and he replies with a picture of my TB! Today we met up at a CITO and I got my trackable back after it's long adventure around the world. 
This is such a fun game, and so many different things can happen. When I released this into the wild, I never set any goals; I just wanted it to travel from cache to cache, and see where it went. I think it's a super cool story that it traveled the world and then came back to me. 
Thank you for discovering my TB, and don't forget to be awesome!"

I thought you might enjoy hearing a happy tale of a TB coming home after a world-wide adventure. If you have interesting TB stories to share feel free to post them to our Facebook Page!

And remember:
Cache safely, and cache often!
The LANMonkeys