Putting Iceland on the map

Tourism numbers were decimated globally during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Iceland’s tourism board were conscious that when things did open up, people would opt for more traditional ‘sun and sea’ destinations.

We needed to maximise Iceland’s small tourism budget to make the country the top travel choice for when global travel recommenced.

Emotionally engage audiences

We defined Iceland as the home of ‘Personal Sustainability’: a world you need but might not think was possible. We held a mirror up to the planet in a pandemic and said:

‘Looks Like You Need Iceland’

Through this creative platform, we’ve launched several brave and newsworthy communications campaigns - 'Let it out!' 'Sweatpant Boots' and 'Outhorse your email'.

We’ve let people scream into the Icelandic wilderness and literally convert their lockdown sweatpants into adventure boots at a bespoke pop-up in Reykjavik.

We responded to the Metaverse launch with a verse of our own – the 'Icelandverse'. It got so much traction, even Zuckerberg was talking about it.

Results

• Generated 15x target coverage, reaching 2.7B people
• Established Iceland as the #1 preferred holiday destination in all key markets
• $40+ million in earned conversation
• Looks Like You Need an Adventure gained 850m impressions in 1 week, and 10% increased purchase intent
• The Icelandverse was voted in top 20 ads of 2021 worldwide by Adweek
• Three Cannes Lions, Two ANDYs, One Clio Award, Five Effie's, One Show Award, Two PR week Global Awards