Finalist for B2C Influencer Collaboration Campaign of the Year: Tuscany Influencer Trip
Tuscany Influencer Trip, the campaign led by Not In The Guidebooks, was a finalist in the B2C Influencer Collaboration Campaign category at the Social Media Marketing Awards 2025.
What strategy did the Not In The Guidebooks team develop with this campaign, and which platforms did they utilise? We spoke to the team behind the campaign to learn all the facts:
Our Tuscany Influencer Trip was created to prove that sustainable travel is about so much more than the environment – it’s also about people, culture, and economic empowerment.
At the heart of the campaign were Mirella and Francesco, our hosts in Tavarnelle, Tuscany. Alongside their daughter, they welcomed us into their 500-year-old palazzo, shared family recipes, and opened the doors to authentic Tuscan life.
Instead of curating glossy, staged content, we empowered four influencers to capture these moments in their own voice and style – from cooking in the kitchen to wandering cobbled streets like locals. The result was storytelling that felt real and relatable, and it grew our audience organically.
The Challenge
Our challenge was to inspire travellers to choose more sustainable holidays in a world where “sustainability” is so often reduced to a buzzword.
Our opportunity was to show that every town has its own Mirella and Francesco – passionate hosts whose cultures and traditions thrive when travellers connect with them. This trip gave us the chance to share the human side of sustainability in a way audiences could feel and want to be part of.
The Strategy
Our strategy was simple: let authenticity lead.
We set clear goals – to grow our community, increase engagement, and drive bookings – but we didn’t script the story. Each influencer was encouraged to capture the trip in their own way, keeping it natural and personal. The result was content that felt spontaneous and human, not branded or forced.
Channels and Formats
As a small start-up, we relied solely on organic social media – Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Competing against big brands with big budgets, we proved that you don’t need a huge spend to make a huge impact.
Our content included reels, stories, long-form vlogs, and short TikToks, highlighting the food, culture, and hospitality of our hosts. We also ran a joint giveaway with Mirella and Francesco, offering a stay at their palazzo, which extended the campaign’s reach and kept momentum going long after the trip ended.
The Results
20% growth in followers (2,000 new, engaged followers).
Surpassed our long-standing goal of 10k Instagram followers.
Bookings generated for the palazzo featured in the campaign.
Strong relationships built between hosts, influencers, and our brand.
But the best result of all? By the end of the trip, the influencers weren’t just collaborators – they’d been adopted by their new Italian Nonna.
We’re proud that a small, resource-stretched team pulled off something this ambitious.
James led the project from ideation to delivery, supported by a tight-knit team who trusted, backed, and delivered together. It’s a testament to collaboration, creativity, and belief in the power of authentic storytelling.
What We Learned
That behind every reel lies hours of creativity, collaboration, and editing. We learned just how much skill influencers bring when they’re trusted to be themselves – and how vital that trust is to a campaign’s success.
From a business perspective, this became a case study in the power of authentic content: it didn’t just build awareness, it directly drove enquiries and bookings, while strengthening the values our brand stands for.
What’s Next
This campaign proved that immersive, human-centred content resonates deeply. Next up, we’re showcasing our Lapland adventures, co-created with local hosts and storytellers once again.
More broadly, we’re excited by the shift in social media toward authentic, unpolished travel content. It’s the perfect space for us to show why we’re different – celebrating local, meaningful, and sustainable experiences.
And as AI continues to evolve, we’re excited by its potential to help us scale messages that matter – giving more visibility to causes that deserve it, and offering creative power that’s usually reserved for brands with bigger budgets.
