At Kielo Digital, we love to work with clients who inspire us to become more adventurous - while thinking outside the box for marketing opportunities!

In this case, when you take adventure and “outside the box” to the extreme, and add a healthy dose of passion for bespoke experiences in one of the most unique regions of the world, you get Secret Atlas - the up-and-coming home of expedition micro cruises in The Arctic.

Secret Atlas is made up of crew members from all walks of life, coming together to form a passionate team of sailors, conservationists, photographers and expedition leaders - sometimes all wrapped in one. From Andreas Umbreit, one of the most accomplished expedition leaders in Svalbard with over 35 years of experience leading expeditions, to Silvia Grob, who once overwintered in Svalbard at 78°N in a tent just to experience the harsh environment, to Rick Tomlinsson, team photography expert whose pictures have been published in magazines all over the world, including National Geographic, and so many more impassioned experts, their team sets the tone for a true Arctic experience.

To match this All-Star team is a uniquely small and nimble vessel, “Togo,” that offers intimate 12-person micro cruises, bringing travelers close enough to touch the ice caps and feel the spritz of whales’ tail splashes in some of the most isolated, breathtaking corners of the earth. Whether it be face-to-face encounters with polar bears and walruses, lunch on the beach to the tune of thunderous icebergs cracking, or fishing for dinner straight out of the Arctic Ocean, Secret Atlas offers distinctively bold access and flexibility in the experiences they provide.

Naturally, with such a unique product comes an eager marketing team (that’s us!) licking their creative chops. We’ve loved taking on the challenge of communicating the true nature of these bucket list experiences to consumers through our native language: digital marketing. Given Secret Atlas’ particular position of being a brand new experiential travel company (launched in 2019), who typically markets to European clientele, we’ve been integral in helping them switch gears to focus on the domestic audience from their Norwegian offerings as well establishing them firmly within dual markets for when it’s safe to welcome guests from around the world, including the US.

With this in mind, we sat down with Secret Atlas Co-Founder Michele D’Agostino to discuss the brand’s origin story, its focus on sustainability, its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and why partnering with Kielo has been an integral part of their re-launch, pandemic navigation, multilingual translations, and more.

What drew you to starting an expedition micro-cruise company in the Arctic, of all places? Was there a certain trip, or moment, that made that light bulb switch on for you?

As a sailor, I’ve always been fascinated by remote destinations. I met (Secret Atlas Co-Founder) Andy Marsh on an expedition in Greenland to Scoresby Sound, the deepest fjord in the world. Scoresby is landlocked 10 months of the year, and the local community there was fascinated by us travelers from other parts of the world. We decided, why not start our own operation where we go to remote locations?

As sailors, we naturally like sailing with small groups, so the concept of a big cruise never crossed our mind. We wanted to combine our passions for people, remote places, and adventure into a new company.

COVID has impacted everyone in the past year, but arguably no industry has been hit harder than travel. What are some of the most difficult business decisions you had to make, and strategies you had to implement, to set yourself up for success going forward?

Business is all about managing risk. To be honest, due to COVID, we had plenty of time to review our product, our business, and our internal processes. We are a much stronger company now, just because we had the time.

We had to reset our mindset to find the opportunities that had been disguised, and there are plenty of opportunities for us. The fact that we are dealing with small groups is an advantage for us. The safety of a smaller group is clearly higher. There are plenty of angles through which we see this as a massive opportunity instead of a disadvantage.

You have a team made up of extreme adventurers. What does it take to be a crew member?

The way we work is very inclusive - that’s one of the founding pillars of our business. Andy and I have our own experience with private expeditions, but when it comes to running the tour, we rely on Andres, who is the most experienced expedition leader in Svalbard. The owner of our vessel has more than 15 years of experience hosting expeditions, filming local sustainability projects, and conducting scientific work. This goes to show that we are complimenting every aspect of the business with experts in the field.

We are not simply hiring the leaders - they are a part of the product. To be a crew member, it takes passion, experience, and openness to sharing ideas. You need to have team players. Another aspect of inclusivity that is instrumental to who we are is gender equality - our trusted team is a 50/50 split of men and women.

What are some differences between the target audiences you are serving, depending on either their location (e.g. Norway vs. UK Audiences) or the location of the cruises (Svalbard vs. Greenland)? Anything that surprised you when you started Secret Atlas, in terms of marketing and audience understanding?

The surprise is that our audience has had difficulty finding operators like us - the thing we hear the most is, “I wish I knew I could go to the Arctic on a small vessel instead of going on a passenger vessel. I didn't know I could go to the Arctic on a small vessel.”

When you hear these comments, you think “We have a massive opportunity, it's up to us to reach this audience.” The audiences are different because of their scale, and some markets are more interested in us than others: the Northern Europeans, including the Germans and the Swiss and the Brits, are super interested in what we do. Many, many people also come to us from other parts of the world like the U.S. and Australia.

From Kielo’s standpoint, a team built on experience and expertise from the travel industry, with marketing chops and European leadership who have lived in the US now for 10+ years, we see ourselves as the perfect partner to work with Secret Atlas’ many audiences and their unique product. Not to mention, constant, in-depth research on the similarities and differences between US and European markets, marketing trends, and audience needs comes right along with our digital marketing territory!

How does corporate and personal responsibility factor into your mentality when it comes to the environment, and preserving Svalbard, versus the way businesses in other parts of the globe operate?

For Co-Founder Andy Marsh, he says, “It’s essential that if you are visiting a remote and fragile place, you don’t contribute to any environmental pollution or cause any disturbance to wildlife. We follow strict guidelines by AECO (The Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators) when it comes to wildlife watching. For example, we can’t go within 300 meters of the walrus colony, so we’re very careful to make sure we minimize our impact on fragile environments.

Part of our philosophy has become to take people there so that they learn about the environment and the challenges The Arctic faces, which includes things like climate change–more specifically, problems with plastic pollution–which we encounter in Svalbard. Something else we do is if we do a shore-landing, we collect any plastic and trash that we see on beaches, so we’re always looking for a way to have a positive influence.”

What’s next for Secret Atlas? If the Kielo team had a magic wand, what would the future look like?

We discovered the right mindset in you guys. You took a client in the travel industry, which was probably a crazy decision at this time, but it was an informed decision. You knew the challenges, but you also saw the opportunities. We can tell our goals are aligned, and it feels like we are talking to colleagues rather than providers. We have done a lot of heavy lifting ourselves, and now we feel like we have a professional team who can generate exponential results based on the effort put into the business.

The next projects for us involve (and this is all I’m going to reveal at this point): What do we do to be even more sustainable, and how do we become more inclusive? So, the future looks bright. Stay tuned!

At Kielo Digital–as a small team that serves fellow small businesses in getting their marketing efforts off the ground–Secret Atlas’ all-hands-on-deck approach and boldness in presenting a one-of-a-kind product resonates deeply. We’ve worked together to come up with million-dollar ideas that can be executed on a reasonable budget during COVID - both in order to make immediate 2021-2022 goals come true, but also to keep a finger on the travel trend pulse, and an ear to the ground about the restriction changes happening daily (in multiple languages!).

Our goal is, ultimately, to ensure that Secret Atlas’ current and potential customer base (domestically in Europe, and in the US) is as familiar with, and excited about, exploring with them as we are!

And, not unlike the crew of an Arctic Micro Expedition, without a willingness to collaborate, both internally and with our partners, we wouldn’t be able to move the needle as effectively as we do.

Here’s how our team’s blended background brings a knowledgeable and spirited approach to travel marketing:

Kielo’s Finnish-Norwegian founder, Anette Nilsen, immersed herself in the tourism and hospitality space, leading social media marketing efforts for Visit Czech Republic, Explore Brooklyn, and NYC Ferry.

Our Dutch-Polish Chief Content Officer, Nicolette Orlemans, founded a global travel community called #CultureTrav, connecting travel influencers, and content creators.
Social Media Coordinator, Julia Lindsay, worked as a Sales Associate at Condé Nast
… And I’ve worked in marketing and partnership on the agency side of the travel industry for First in Service.

If you’re looking for an invested marketing partner with expertise in the travel industry, our consulting sessions offer you the chance to talk through all of your goals and create a comprehensive plan.

Book today to chat more, no strings attached!

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Client Spotlight: Secret Atlas – All Hands on Deck

What drew you to starting an expedition micro-cruise company in the Arctic, of all places? Was there a certain trip, or moment, that made that light bulb switch on for you?

COVID has impacted everyone in the past year, but arguably no industry has been hit harder than travel. What are some of the most difficult business decisions you had to make, and strategies you had to implement, to set yourself up for success going forward?

You have a team made up of extreme adventurers. What does it take to be a crew member?

How does corporate and personal responsibility factor into your mentality when it comes to the environment, and preserving Svalbard, versus the way businesses in other parts of the globe operate?

What’s next for Secret Atlas? If the Kielo team had a magic wand, what would the future look like?