This summer we are seeing destinations focusing on their domestic markets. I have noticed three interesting campaigns this summer, in Denmark, Iceland and New Zealand. All three of them have a different focus.
Denmark
The Denmark campaign is #BareDenmark that you can translate in a way that it means “only be in Denmark”. They have Martin Brygman asking the question in the marketing video, when did Denmark become “only” Denmark? It is playing on the idea that when we stay in our own destinations, we tend to say that we will “only” be there like it is not as interesting as going abroad. Therefore, Danish Coastal and Rural Tourism, Dansk Storbyturisme and Visit Denmark are encouraging the Danes to hashtag #baredenmark and showcase the interesting things they are doing by being on a vacation in Denmark. They also have a campaign that if you put this on Instagram you can win 200.000 DKK. See more here.
Iceland
The government of Iceland, decided as part of the COVID19 recovery that all Icelanders, age 18 years and over would get a gift certificate of about 30 euros to use in the year of 2020 in Icelandic tourism. This was started in the middle of June and now everyone can get a “Ferðagjöf” or the gift certificate through a special app. Many Icelandic tourism companies are using this and giving discounts if traveler uses the gift with them. At this same time the Icelandic Tourist Board started a campaign that is encouraging people to travel in Iceland. They updated the website for domestic travel and now it is possible to see offers from companies and events all over Iceland, as well as information on the gift certificate. The campaign video can be found here.
New Zealand
The Tourism New Zealand launched few weeks ago a campaign called “Do Something New, New Zealand”. The aim of the campaign is to change New Zealanders attitude to do vacations in their own country. The idea is to encourage New Zealanders to tick in their bucket lists in their own country e.g. go hiking, taking kids to see the snow, swimming with the dolphins and more – like slogan for the campaign says, do something new. See the campaign video here. A comment from the Prime Minister of New Zealand has also been interesting but she encouraged businesses to have 4 days working week in order for people to be able to travel more. Well we all wish for that!
The difference between the campaigns
It is interesting to see the different approach for the campaigns but still similarities. I think it is very interesting to see the focus in New Zealand, as it is encouraging people to do something new, Denmark is encouraging the locals to show what is on offer, while Iceland is more general.
What do you think of domestic campaigns? Do you have more examples of domestic campaigns? Do you think domestic campaigns are important for your industry?
Article published on LinkedIn 23 June 2020