Media coverage… we have been talking to a lot of media outlets across the country and the support and interest has been fantastic. Our goal is to have a national online partner, a national foot print of newspapers and a few photography magazines covering the story, one in Canada and one in the USA.
So far the Sun Media newspapers and the Winnipeg Free Press will be covering the expedition with our articles. I have also talked to some of the community newspapers around where we all live and the response to my request to interview us about our expedition is overwhelmingly positive.
We have also spoken to MSN Canada and they like the idea of us blogging daily from the arctic. They also talked to me about writing both articles on the effects of climate change as well as some eco-tourism articles for them upon our return. The plan with MSN would be to have them publish blogs daily online and allow people to interact with us in real time.
Social media will also play a role in spreading the message about the expedition and allow us also to communicate with people that are intereted about what its like in the arctic circle. The issue now is to have a satellite phone and model with a data plan... but there are a few companies that can supply us those... so Roadpost... I will be calling. ;-)
As for photography magazines, not many have stepped forward yet. Photo technique magazine out of the U.S. has expressed an interest in doing something, but no Canadian photo magazines have stepped forward to say they want to be “the” Canadian magazine to cover us… My money is on Outdoor Photography Canada as both Ethan and John write columns for them already. That and Roy, the Editor-In-Chief, has at least asked me to have a conversation about the expedition already. :-)
The media partners seem to be the easy part… this is an exceptional news worthy program that would garner great readership and exposure for all of our media partners.
The hard part is the sponsorship dollars… but “hard” may be the wrong word... lets call it "more challenging". We have contacted numerous companies with our media kit to sponsor the expedition and donate to the cause… it will just take a few weeks now to start to hear back from the initial media kit presentations. Our goal is to raise a minimum of $50,000 and acquire “in-kind” sponsorship to offset our own costs (flights, food, arctic gear etc)
I am sure there will be a lot more companies that decline to participate than will be willing to participate, but that is expected. If it was easy, everyone would attempt this… LOL
Oh well, onward and upward…
Stay tuned... a few exciting conversations are going to be taking place in the next week. We have a meeting at the WWF Canada offices to meet everyone and there are a few very high profile sponsors that have reached out to get more details before they render their decision.
Oh, I almost forgot. Watch CBC this Sunday, April 8th at 7pm. The Nature of Things is on at a special time. Director Adam Ravetch has made a fantastic program following a sub population of bears from ice out, through the summer. Its an increadable program on how a young bear struggles to change centuries of habit in order to survive. To read about this program please visit, http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episode/polar-bears.html
You can also check out the web pages for our trip north here. www.photographers-lounge.com
Showing posts with label world wildlife fund. Show all posts
Showing posts with label world wildlife fund. Show all posts
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Out of the mouths of babes
As I sit in my living room I can only imagine what is in store for me in just a little over 12 months and 3228 Kilometers (2006 miles) north of me in the Arctic Circle.
But before we look forward, let’s go back a few weeks to a conversation with my daughter. She is in high school and like any high school student; thinking about her future. She has decided that she wants to work with endangered animals. Doing her research she came across Coke and their program in working with World Wildlife Fund. She asked how they are making a difference. I couldn’t answer her and decided to do my own research to see what it is that they were doing.
The program is more about climate change than about the Canadian iconic animal, the Polar Bear. The real focus is on what threatens the Polar Bears. These large carnivores are sensitive indicators of ecosystem health. Polar bears are actually studied to get an understanding of what is happening throughout the Arctic. A polar bear at risk is a sign of something wrong somewhere in the arctic marine ecosystem.
So, after my reading I talked to my daughter about what I found. I could tell her wheels were still spinning… but secretly so were mine after I read one line on the Polar Bears International Website. I read that by 2080 there may be no ice left in Hudson Bay. I thought to myself, “that’s major, as a kid studying Canada; Hudson Bay was the iconic frozen bay explorers crossed. Images of explorers breaking through ice and yanking wooden boats over ice immediately came to mind. Since 1670 when the King of England first granted the Hudson Bay company a fur trade monopoly for all the lands drained by rivers flowing into Hudson's Bay we have changed the climate that much?”
As a nature photographer I wondered how I could do my part. I made some calls, talked to a few friends and started to formulate an idea… and now, out of a simple question from a 15 year old high school student in rural Ontario a plan was formed that will hopefully touch people across Canada and around the world.
The team has been assembled… Ethan Meleg, John E. Marriott, Kevin Pepper and Tim Vollmer will be embarking on an expedition to the Arctic circle and stay close to the floe edge. The goal is to capture what we see in photos, talk to local Inuits about how the changes have affected their lives, interview scientists about statistical information and trends and have conversations with Canada’s leading conservation minds... out of this, an awareness story in photos and words that shows people just how much the arctic has changed.
Working with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) our goal is not only to create awareness but raise funds that will be donated to WWF to help them continue their work.
While we are in the arctic we will be sending back daily blogs and twitter feeds about the day’s findings and sharing our photos through our media partners that will be helping us communicate to you what we are experiencing. You will be able to follow us in real time and share in our experience.
Right now we are structuring the actual expedition route and having conversations with numerous potential product and cash sponsors to help us achieve our goals.
Stay tuned, come back weekly, and you can follow us from today right through the next year as we prepare for our expedition.
Over the next year I will keep you up to speed on media partners, sponsors, our expedition plans and discuss what we find as we start our interviews and our personal learning’s about the cause that brings us together for the 2013 arctic expedition to the Arctic Circle.
Thanks for reading,
Kev
But before we look forward, let’s go back a few weeks to a conversation with my daughter. She is in high school and like any high school student; thinking about her future. She has decided that she wants to work with endangered animals. Doing her research she came across Coke and their program in working with World Wildlife Fund. She asked how they are making a difference. I couldn’t answer her and decided to do my own research to see what it is that they were doing.
The program is more about climate change than about the Canadian iconic animal, the Polar Bear. The real focus is on what threatens the Polar Bears. These large carnivores are sensitive indicators of ecosystem health. Polar bears are actually studied to get an understanding of what is happening throughout the Arctic. A polar bear at risk is a sign of something wrong somewhere in the arctic marine ecosystem.
So, after my reading I talked to my daughter about what I found. I could tell her wheels were still spinning… but secretly so were mine after I read one line on the Polar Bears International Website. I read that by 2080 there may be no ice left in Hudson Bay. I thought to myself, “that’s major, as a kid studying Canada; Hudson Bay was the iconic frozen bay explorers crossed. Images of explorers breaking through ice and yanking wooden boats over ice immediately came to mind. Since 1670 when the King of England first granted the Hudson Bay company a fur trade monopoly for all the lands drained by rivers flowing into Hudson's Bay we have changed the climate that much?”
As a nature photographer I wondered how I could do my part. I made some calls, talked to a few friends and started to formulate an idea… and now, out of a simple question from a 15 year old high school student in rural Ontario a plan was formed that will hopefully touch people across Canada and around the world.
The team has been assembled… Ethan Meleg, John E. Marriott, Kevin Pepper and Tim Vollmer will be embarking on an expedition to the Arctic circle and stay close to the floe edge. The goal is to capture what we see in photos, talk to local Inuits about how the changes have affected their lives, interview scientists about statistical information and trends and have conversations with Canada’s leading conservation minds... out of this, an awareness story in photos and words that shows people just how much the arctic has changed.
Working with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) our goal is not only to create awareness but raise funds that will be donated to WWF to help them continue their work.
While we are in the arctic we will be sending back daily blogs and twitter feeds about the day’s findings and sharing our photos through our media partners that will be helping us communicate to you what we are experiencing. You will be able to follow us in real time and share in our experience.
Right now we are structuring the actual expedition route and having conversations with numerous potential product and cash sponsors to help us achieve our goals.
Stay tuned, come back weekly, and you can follow us from today right through the next year as we prepare for our expedition.
Over the next year I will keep you up to speed on media partners, sponsors, our expedition plans and discuss what we find as we start our interviews and our personal learning’s about the cause that brings us together for the 2013 arctic expedition to the Arctic Circle.
Thanks for reading,
Kev
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