MonsterHero Safari in Camberley
An ambitious new project, which will bring a fun, family experience to many of the UKs high streets this summer, aims to raise over £100k for NHS Charities Together.
The story-trail, called MonsterHero Safari, builds on the huge popularity of art and sculpture trails. The Safari will give families a fun and safe reason to come back into town and give high streets a much-needed boost in footfall.
The first 60 locations, listed below, will be going live throughout July. From Kirkwall to Plymouth to Coleraine, the project spans the UK.
MonsterHero Safari works by utilising contactless NFC technology and QR codes and is app-free without the need for players to download or sign up. The Safari consists of 10 window decals, monster superheroes this time, with embedded NFC tags that the organisers want mainly independent and charity retailers, as well as cultural and public venues, to host.
One MonsterHero character, Hiccupmonster, has been published but the other 9 are being kept under wraps to be discovered on the trail (see his bio below).
Sponsored by Wild in Art, families can engage with the experience by tapping or scanning each character and learning their names, stories and powers. Younger children will enjoy spotting the cute and colourful characters and older kids (and grown-up ones) will engage by learning more about them. After finding all 10 MonsterHeroes, families will be rewarded with a free e-book about their first adventure. Throughout the experience families are encouraged to voluntarily donate to NHS Charities Together.
To kick start the project, the first 100 locations that signed up received a free pack courtesy of sponsorship by art trail specialists Wild in Art. All of this is being done with a keen eye on safety, so the safari has been designed so that players can only interact with them in small family groups whilst adhering to social distancing and is completely contactless.
Martin Blackwell, former CEO of ATCM and the Charity Retail Association is coordinating the project pro bono said, When I heard about the concept it just resonated with me and I knew I had to support it. I loved the idea of heroes; the idea of a safari on the high street! I just thought, if something fun like this can help make families feel good about going back out onto the high street and raise money for such a worthy cause then lets go for it.
He partnered with high street technology agency Thyngs to create the NFC and QR code-powered platform. He has also enlisted renowned international marketing agency, Toolbox Marketing, to work for free on bringing the initiative to life.
To learn more or sign up to become another high street to participate and raise money for NHS Charities Together please go to monsterherosafari.com