You've got to love an underdog success story.
That's exactly what we have here with the Remote Tourism campaign promoting Faroe Islands—a tiny and remote nation with just 50,000 citizens and considerably more sheep.
A few months back, as pandemic lockdowns began in earnest across Europe, we covered how the country's tourism agency was adapting to the new reality of zero visitors by creating a gamified virtual experience that let viewers "control" a wandering local outfitted with cameras.
Now we've learned that the quickly thrown together (but elegantly executed) concept was a tremendous hit in terms of tourism visibility, luring in 700,000 online visitors representing a total of 197 countries.
I've mentioned innovative tourism campaigns quite a bit in this newsletter recently, which might seem surprising given the abundant limitations on travel still being imposted in various parts of the world (including a general prohibition against U.S. visitors by most popular destinations).
But if you think about it, it makes perfect sense that global tourism marketers would shine amid quarantines.
Why? Because tourism is the ultimate top-of-mind marketing challenge. You can't just show audiences some pretty pictures and call it a day. You have to get in their heads and stay there, often for months or even years at a time until they make big-ticket travel decisions.
Faroe Islands shows a great example of this with Remote Tourism. If even 1% of those virtual visitors come to visit in the coming years, that'll be 7,000 visits. Not bad for a few live camera feeds and locals willing to traipse around to be your eyes and ears.
David Griner
Creative and Innovation Editor, Adweek
david.griner@adweek.com
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