Inspired by their ancestral heritage, Aboriginal artists make art and fashion resonate between tradition and modernity. Since 2019, The Circumpolar Artisans Network has been working to revitalize the traditions and production of authentic Inuit and Aboriginal seal products while ensuring quality standards and traceability.
The challenge
In 2021, the online boutique Proudly Indigenous Crafts & Design wants to reach out to Millennials to promote its authentic and high quality products, as well as raise awareness about the know-how and traditions of Aboriginal communities.
So, what better spokespersons than First Nations content creators to communicate about the unique crafts and creations designed and made by Aboriginal artists?
Video credit: @shinanovaTo build awareness of the website and interest in the target audience, Made in recommended developing a content and influencer campaign on three key channels: TikTok, Instagram and the organization’s blog.
Four famous native influencers were recruited: @santeesiouxx, @notoriouscree, @marikasila and @shinanova.Their mission: to create informative, creative and authentic content, on Instagram as well as on TikTok over three phases. By addressing the history, practices, and values of their cultural heritage, they were able to shine a light on the fashion accessories available on the online store and appeal to their audience.
Four SEO optimized, in-depth and informative articles were also written by Made in and published on the Proudly Indigenous & Craft Design website to attract qualified traffic around key topics and improve the website’s SEO. In terms of editorial strategy, Made in has focused on strong and inspiring themes (fashion, artists, manufacturing…) that will raise awareness of indigenous culture and traditions.
The campaign was orchestrated to be launched in June, National Aboriginal History Month in Canada.
This campaign achieved excellent results in terms of visibility and engagement: the choice of selecting native influencers and recruiting a few top designers offered wide coverage to a new online store nestled among receptive and engaged communities.
The influencers fulfilled their mission with flying colors, publishing diverse and engaging content in the form of in-feed posts, Reels, and stories on Instagram as well as dynamic videos on TikTok. The awareness gained from this campaign was powerful with 2.4M impressions and views (before amplification).
The quality of the published content generated many excellent reactions from Internet users, reaching an excellent engagement rate of 12% compared to benchmarks (3-7%). The communities were especially touched and grateful that the influencers explained and shared traditional know-how while highlighting indigenous creators and designers.
Finally, @proudlyindigenouscrafts ‘ Instagram account has also generated a lot of interest via this campaign, now gathering a community of 6,800 people in just 3 months.
