The year 2020, though chaotic has led India on its way to emerge as the world’s most powerful democracies. While our armed forces fought China, protecting the citizens of this country, our honourable PM Narendra Modi asked the entire country to consciously reject Chinese products and buy products made in India. Now however big or small, ineffective or effective it may sound to you there’s one thing it did for sure- turning this into a mission for all Indians by naming it ‘Vocal for Local’. It gave us all a way to support ‘Make in India’ and a reason for all to come together and promote each other. While most companies just promoted themselves as ‘Indian Brands’ with the #vocalforlocal, TraWork caught on the real meaning of it and came up with a plan to support THE WORSLEY affected industries of all: TRAVEL.
The idea was to use social media platforms to talk about unique travel companies- that are trying something different.
But how? Resharing their content and reposting their stories? Naah!
This was going to be no ordinary Instagram shoutout. Our goal was much bigger. We wanted to give these different travel startups and companies an opportunity to talk about their concepts and reach out to a wider audience.
We decided to dedicate an entire day of our social media activity to one company every day. We got in touch with different companies and started researching about them. And finally came up with carousel posts on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, Instagram stories, elaborate captions followed by IG live sessions with the founders and team members of the company. The aim was to use every surface of the various social media platforms and push as much information about these companies as possible.
Take a look at the amazingly unique companies we featured:
WorkStays, Bangalore
WorkStays is a hospitality service that centres on digital nomadism. Also called 'a digital nomad paradise', WorkStays is a unique space for travellers and freelancers that cater to their need for a community, networking, innovating while having fun. It involves a thriving online community and exclusive co-living and coworking space for digital nomads, freelancers, and remote workers.
2. 28 Kothi, Jaipur
This is a boutique guesthouse where one would immediately want to book a stay at this mesmerizingly gorgeous villa. What's most unique about 28 Kothi is it's beautifully contrasting concept- enjoy the cultural elements and the grandeur of the Rajasthani culture but also feel completely at home. It has a lush garden, terraces, reading corners, and library, all in this quiet corner of Jaipur, away from the hustle-bustle of the city life.
3. Bistar Hostel, Bhopal
Bhopal is rightly called the city of Lakes and Bistar is perhaps a place where you can live that title. Besides the beautiful lake view, they make sure that you explore the city to the fullest. It is an absolute pleasure to see an urban concept like Bistar Hostel, promoting its city's cultural heritage and historical treasure. They also happen to curate a micro-culture inside their co-living space where they conduct various events, cultural tours, photography walks, treks and food crawls.
4. Moonstone Hammock, Mumbai
This organisation was born out of an idea to more in the limited routine everyone has set for themselves - and what better than treating yourself with some quality time outdoors? There is so much to these unique camping sites like floating tents and clamping tents, live music, kayaking, and immersive art workshops. With numerous locally promoted activities like pottery, organic farming, jungle safaris, rappelling, trekking, and more, everything works perfectly fine for a person who is looking for a chill weekend.
5. Nomad Gao, Goa
After spending years working remotely, they decided to call Goa home. However, they realized that there is no organized community of digital nomads there, so they decided to create one that would proffer productivity and call it their own Nomad Gao! COLIVING- COMMUNITY- COWORKING is their three main ingredients. Being a part of the travel community, let’s support them to help Nomad Gao host more Indian digital nomads.
6. International Travellers' Hostel
They started in 2013 purely out of their love for travel and now over these 7 years, they have only strived to turn ITH into India's premium hospitality brand. This is a hostel made by a traveller for other travellers. The hostel has a very interesting history - The family-run hostel is located in their historical house owned by their family for over 5 generations.
7. SmallWorld
It is an interactive space that brings together cultures from around the world in the format of a co-living hostel. Each room can accommodate 2 people and is themed in a country. The guests are immersed in various cultures through art, music, books, and other media where you can choose a room based on the theme of countries. The hallway is an artistic journey that makes you feel you are travelling across the world.
8. Musafir Cafe & Musicathon
It is an amalgamation of music and travel. Talking about their cafe first- Musafir Cafe is located in a peaceful corner of Bir, Himachal. It is a traveller’s cafe where memories are made and stories are told, where bikers talk with photographers and the writers talk with musicians, where readers discuss the books and the lovers share the poems, where one could see paragliders between clouds, where one could feel stars between mountains.
9. Xplore the Earth
This is a free platform to browse first-hand travel information. Started in February 2019, this venture solves the problems they faced with not having enough genuine first-hand information about a lot of places they wanted to travel to. They felt the need to create a crowdsourced database of reliable information documenting details that are freely accessible by all travellers."We are content creators creating new content each day that is helpful to travellers. We organize unique offbeat travel experiences for small groups. We are also building a community of travellers who help each other with genuine information about places and travel in general" says one of the three founders at XTE.
10. Draper Startup House
DSH makes hospitality the basis of this entrepreneurial ecosystem. Their hostels are a combined formula of travel, co-living, experiences, and community that helps startups, digital nomads, entrepreneurs to gather to connect, inspire, empower, and learn. Through the use of the real human connection, inspiring businesses, diverse-minded community, and access to global citizens – one can grab new opportunities, inspire one another to innovate, execute, and empower one another to GO BIG, give back, and drive progress.
11. Episodes - Experience curators
This fabulous B2B company partners with home stays and resorts, carefully crafting unforgettable experiences for ir's guests. They focus on curating their space to maximize relaxation and comfort. Of course, the hospitality sector underwent major changes in the past year. Episodes ensures a charming experience for their clientele within the COVID restrictions and safety regulations, bringing to you, one of the best vacations possible!
12. The Flapper Life
The flapper life is a fantastic boutique travel studio, ideal for a trip to your dream destination! Witness women breaking all social barriers as they support and encourage other women through travel. What's interesting is that they push their customers to take a solo trips. Currently, they are also running a virtual series called MY LOCAL WILL GO GLOBAL where they invite locals from different places in India to give virtual tours. After all, who can define the experience of a place as well as a local?
13. Harkat Studios
Harkat is an international boutique and arts studio. Based in Mumbai & Berlin, Harkat takes many forms and identities across disciplines. Their core interest lies in film making, new media, community art spaces and contemporary art. They also curate experiences and exhibits, as well as provide amazing co-working spaces for artists. Harkat has defined it's approach to be beautifully intimate and thought provoking in nature.
The response was tremendous and we saw the campaign instilling a greater sense of contentment and encouragement in them. In such a tough time, when travel was completely stopped, executing this campaign was a bigger high for us as a travel company. But that’s not the end, we are soon coming up with the 2nd edition of TW Vocal for Local- with the same intent of promoting the hidden gems of the travel industry. Stay tuned on our Instagram to stay updated!
But the work doesn’t stop here. We are already gearing up for the next edition of Vocal for Local-Travel Edition. So if you are or know a company (travel industry) who is unique and is doing something different in the travel ecosystem then simply ask them to fill this form up- https://forms.gle/NnR7DN84tzsjDet1A
great initiative!