Tourism Yukon
#MakeAToenation

Campaign Background

Something big happened on Jun. 17, 2017 and it was a state of almost national security. The famous toe from the Sourtoe Cocktail in Dawson City, Yukon was stolen from its home,
The Downtown Hotel. The incident became national news and informed Canadians just how special the Sourtoe Cocktail was to Yukoners and the 100,000 people who have tried it.
Established in 1973, the Sourtoe Cocktail is a time-honoured tradition and is a simple whiskey shot, that’s paired with an unusual accompaniment: a mummified human toe, preserved and jarred since the 1920s. Those who partake in the unusual beverage choice join the exclusive Sourtoe Cocktail Club, which was created with one rule: “You can drink it fast. You can drink it slow. But your lips must touch that gnarly toe.”

On Jun.17, this territorial treasure went missing and a national media relations campaign was planned around the news cycle to drive buzz for Tourism Yukon and #MakeAToenation came to life.

Goals, Objectives and Targets

To generate buzz for Tourism Yukon and create conversation among Canadians across the country garnering 10-15M impressions.

The Plan and Relevant Partnerships

After seeing the missing toe spark national news attention, Tourism Yukon, The Colony Project and its sister-agency, Cossette, reacted quickly to what Canadians and media were talking about. The teams mined for the conversations that were already happening about the missing toe in the news cycle and used that as research and inspiration for the campaign idea and its targets.

In close partnership and in less than 48 hours since the toe went missing, a plan was developed to help the Downtown Hotel retrieve its missing toe and #MakeAToenation was ready to launch.

The agency created a national campaign to get the word out to Canadians as fast as possible. A contest was created that encouraged social media users to share a photo of their toe, use the designated hashtag #MakeAToenation, and enter for a chance to win a trip for two to the Yukon. In Tourism Yukon’s eyes, the more delectable the toe aroma the better. In exchange, the winner would agree to donate their toe post-mortem. This contest became the news to media and generated buzz from coast to coast.

To officially announce the #MakeAToenation contest, a media pitch was developed as the fastest way to get the news out to Canadians. However, right before the campaign was set to launch another news story broke declaring the toe had been to its rightful home.

As a result, the team worked together to immediately pivot the campaign narrative to focus the contest and messaging on finding a backup toe for the Sourtoe Cocktail, to ensure this tragedy would never happen again. The PR strategy for #MakeAToeNation focused on targeted media relations with a two-phased approach: announcing the #MakeAToenation contest and announcing the winner once the contest concluded.
As the second phase of the PR campaign, Tourism Yukon announced the contest winner to media and offered interviews with Kelly Green, the lucky west coast winner of the #MakeAToenation contest. Kelly Green was offered to national media for interviews on the campaign, speaking about her love and excitement for her upcoming Yukon adventure.

The Results

In total, the #MakeAToenation campaign went viral organically with media and achieved more than 33 editorial stories, garnering more than 49.5 million impressions, exceeding initial target by more than 230%. Top media coverage appeared in the Vancouver Sun, CTV, the Globe and Mail, the Huffington Post and Yahoo. International pickup was seen in the Daily Mail UK and Reuters. In addition, the contest received more than 300 social entries.