About the Website

Cross Country Fun Hunt fulfills the promise of transmedia by transforming TV into something kids not only watch passively but something they can affect and be part of. It has allowed kids from across the country to share their local kid culture with others, and to taste the demographic and geographic diversity of the entire country.

Cross Country Fun Hunt is about finding the most “fun” place in Canada. We employed user-generated content, online voting and real-time geo-tracking on an interactive map (among other techniques) to create opportunities for direct involvement by kids.

In the first phase of the project we collected user-generated content via the website. We asked kids to propose their town or location as the most fun in Canada by creating an online pitch that could incorporate video, photos or text.

In the second phase of the project our host, Jordan Francis began an epic 8-week road trip across the country, visiting some of the kids who proposed destinations, spending the day with the ambassador and friends to explore what fun there was to have, and filming a webisode. Kids could interact with our host via our website “shout” mechanism; a moderated twitter-like chat-box.

In the third phase of the project we repackaged the webisodes into thirteen episodes for television. At the same time we launched a voting mechanism on our website, allowing kids to vote for their choice of destination as the most fun in Canada. Over 14,000 Canadians cast their online votes.  Kids went all-out to generate voting support for their town; using online video pitches, lobbying friends at schools, local sporting events and through social media.

To the winning location went a prize; a gala concert featuring host Jordan and Canadian pop sensation Victoria Duffield which was a huge success, attended by almost three thousand people from Stratford P.E.I. and surrounding area.

Awards

YOUTH MEDIA ALLIANCE AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE – 2013
Winner – Best Convergent Website

NUMIX AWARDS – 2013
Winner – Convergent Productions: Youth category

Partners