Geocaching is a global treasure hunting game played with smartphones and/or GPS devices by a highly engaged community of outdoor enthusiasts since 2000. Geocaching HQ's engagement strategy centers around curating and elevating user generated content. Geocaching HQ's partnerships focus on integrating affinity brands into the community's 82 million yearly geocaching experiences.

1. Geocaching
● Geocaching 101
● Community Strategy
● Experiential Marketing

2. What is Geocaching?
Geocaching is a global treasure hunting game played with
smartphones and/or GPS devices by a highly engaged
community of outdoor enthusiasts since 2000.

3. Geocaching Overview
A big game...
● 10 million+ players
● 2.5 million+ geocaches
hidden worldwide
● There is a geocache on the
international space station
● 100+ geocaches are only
accessible with scuba gear
...with a passionate community
● Individual players have found 100,000+ caches.
● An average of 72 community-created geocaching events
occur each day, many with 500 to 8,000 attendees
● 400+ geocachers have trackable geocaching tattoos
● There is even a professional geocaching band

4. Community Reach
Geocaching.com Stats:
Registered users 10+ million
Annual website visits 124 million
Annual web page views 1.7 billion
Weekly emailer recipients 7 million
Social Network Profile Stats:
Facebook 450,000+ likes
Twitter 63,000+ followers
YouTube 32,000+ subscribers
Instagram 30,000+ followers
Pinterest 12,000+ followers
Geocaching Blog 1.5 million views/year

5. Community Growth
20% increase in Facebook likes
YTD. Average Facebook Fan
growth is 0.29%*.
20% increase in Twitter followers
YTD. Average Twitter Follower
growth is 0.49%*.
*Source: http://www.eightytwenty.ie/blog/do-you-have-to-pay-to-get-new-fans-on-facebook-twitter-study/
134% increase in people seeing
our pins. 193% increase in
people engaging with our pins.
10 month period.

6. Community Growth
509% increase in followers
during an 8 month period.

7. Community Engagement
8.3 million mentions
of geocaching online in the
last 2 years.
Geocaching was responsible for
82 million experiences
in 2014.

8. Community Demographics

9. Community Niche – Adventurers
● Extreme geocaching is a badge of honor for millennials.
● 10% of online mentions focus on extreme geocaching.

10. Community Niche – Environmentalists
● Cache In Trash Out (CITO) is a community-
run environmental initiative.
● Events might be focused on litter clean-up,
removal of invasive species, revegetation
efforts or trail building.
● In 2014, there were 49,785 CITO attendees.
Sponsors:

11. Community Niche – Nerds
● Nominated to be the first new word
added to the Scrabble dictionary in 9
years by a geocaching community
member.
● We lightly pushed the social gas pedal.
● The highly engaged community swept
the competition.
“And maybe that’s what really stings about geocaching’s ballot-box-stuffing win. As Scrabble player
Michael Bassett wrote,“I’m angry that my weird, nerdy hobby has been coopted by other people’s weird,
nerdy hobby.” - Stefan Fatsis, Slate

12. Passion: A Common Denominator

13. Geocaching Community Strategy
Example: #GeocachingPi Day
● 400 events → 1,800 events, via providing two
souvenirs
● 80,000+ souvenirs awarded
● When combined, "clues" from the two
souvenirs revealed a special Pi Day message
from Jeremy. Jeremy Irish, Co-Founder, CEO of Geocaching
Geocaching belongs to the community.
● Geocachers: Create the hides, make the finds, and write the thoughtful find
logs that make hiding so much fun. They continue to innovate how the game
is played. The amazing stories and experiences these users generate drive
the content we share.
● Geocaching HQ employees: People who support the game with tools and
education, as well as inspiration by curating and elevating user-generated
stories.
● Growth: Organic = no ads.

14. Experiential Marketing
Experiential Marketing
● Tangible
● Memorable/Emotional
● Measurable
Experiential Marketing Examples
● Branded Trackables
● Geocaching Adventures

15. Tangible Experiences
● Trackables: Geocaching game pieces.
● History: Geocaching HQ started
partnering with brands on experiential
campaigns in 2004 with a four year Jeep
promotion.
● Touchpoints:
○ Trackables travel from person to
person and geocache to geocache.
○ Digital and physical experiences.
○ Build community connections.

16. Memorable/Emotional
● People take trackables on their journeys, creating memories and logging their experiences.
○ Example logs on geocaching.com:
● Endless lifecycle; trackables travel for years.
● Geocachers share these pieces of history at events, on social media, and on the website.
“As small as those TBs were in the grand scheme of life,
participating in these promotions brought me an immense
amount of joy.” - Brian/Team A.I., 2007 photo contest winner
The story continues two years later: “Big score at
Goodwill lol. Figured I had the trackable, might
as well read the book. Both books for only $2.
Might need to use for another library cache.” -
Jason Winder/animjason, Facebook, 12/2/2014

17. Measurable
● John Grisham trackable program (paired with Facebook ads)
○ John Grisham Facebook page grew by 72,000 fans.
○ Increase in social reach of 220%.
○ Book sales increased 23% (Source: Marketing Sherpa.)
● Michelin “tire safety” geocaching campaign
○ Michelin’s social channels’ reach now 4x average.
○ All 2,000 trackables were ordered in under an hour.
○ We learned a lesson: when engaging with geocachers, don’t
underestimate their passion!
“In this digital era,
geocaching helps keep
the spirit of exploration
alive – whether around
your neighborhood or
around the globe. It was
an ideal match for us.”
Jennifer Smith, Director of Brands
for Michelin North America, Inc.

18. Experiential Marketing:
Geocaching Adventures
Enable the creation, sharing, and playing of multimedia experiences in the real world.

19. Experiential Marketing:
Geocaching Adventures
Promotion of the movie premiere of Walt Disney
Studio’s film Earth to Echo with experiences in
Seattle, New York, LA, and Chicago.
Geocaching “Adventure Time”
Adventure in Seattle to celebrate the
annual Block Party.

20. Additional Partnerships

21. Questions?
Contact:
Christy Weckner (christy@geocaching.com)
Andrea Hofer (andrea@geocaching.com)

22. Appendix
● Trackable Promotion Case Studies
● Michelin’s Press Release on
Geocaching Promotion Results
● Outdoor Industry Association’s
market and consumer insights piece
on Geocaching
● Geocaching on Social Media:
o Twitter
o Instagram
o Pinterest
o Facebook

23. #MichelinQuest Geocaching Promotion
Goal: To celebrate Michelin’s 125th Anniversary and promote tire safety
engagement via a social media based photo contest
Trackable Tag Strategy:
● Geocaching.com manufactured 2,000 trackable tags in the shape
of a Michelin tire. Each tag was attached to an electronic “Michelin
Man” shaped tire gauge.
● Michelin’s creative agency developed the
michelin.geocaching.com landing page using Geocaching.com’s
API, collecting emails/addresses for over 2,000 U.S. geocachers.
● Michelin promoted the campaign via press releases and their
social media platforms. They also launched an internal employee
contest.
● Geocaching.com promoted the campaign through an Ambassador
program, Facebook, Twitter, Geocaching Blog, Instagram,
Pinterest, Newsletter, and banner ads.
Results*: 4 month campaign
● Page views: 32,000+ in first 3 months
● Photo submissions: 1,000 (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook)
● 300+ mentions of #MichelinQuest on Twitter.
● Fan-created youtube video reached nearly 4,000 viewers
● Michelin’s social channels’ reach has been 4x average in first 3
months. More than 1,000 mentions on Facebook alone.
● Michelin tags have traveled over 1,300,000 total miles so far
*Data via Michelin, December 2014

24. Community Niche – Makers/DIY