Inspired by Iceland...I know I am!

Now that Iceland has been in the news on a fairly regular basis and becoming common dinner time conversation around the world, the Iceland tourist bureau have stepped up their ad campaign to encourage tourists to visit Iceland.  They are spreading the good word in a most cost efficient way with  their Inspired by Iceland social networking campaign, the webpage even has Iceland Live, where webcams have been strategicaly placed at hot tourist spots for view by internet streaming.   Their Facebook page after only a few weeks has just under 25,000 fans and you can view dozens of videos of tourists telling you to come and visit Iceland via their Vimeo pages.  The telephone company in Iceland is also part of this national campaign and last weekend  offered free International calls, so Icelanders would ring and entice friends and loved ones to come for a visit.  The video below is what was released during the Iceland Hour....it is 35 mins long but provides a good snapshot of life and happenings in Iceland.

In a world first, the entire nation of Iceland is to gather together online to show the world their country is open for business, open for excitement and open to inspire the world. This video was shown during this hour.

This advertising strategy adds to and supports their Friend of Iceland campaign which sends out personalised emails letting you know its still there and most recently not covered in ash.  The Icelandic sense of humour permeates these emails and always make me smile.

Dear Vicki,
It has been a while since I sent you my first email. I would have written to you before, but as you have probably seen on your tele-vision and your inter-net, I have been a very busy island.

For a while I was even quite famous.

But now my Eyjafjallajökull has stopped erupting and making a big mess for everyone. This is good. I am no longer famous, and I have time to write to you again.

** I APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE **

...and so it goes on, with lots of links...you get the idea!

Australia has also just released it's new tourist advertising campaign costing in excess of 80 million AUS dollars. They are of course hoping to have better luck with this one than they did with the last campaign 'where the bloody hell are you' which was banned in the UK and Canada.
On Monday (7 Jun) the Morning show in Australia discussed the new Icelandic tourist campaign and compared it to Australia's, debating the merits of spending $80m when the same thing could be done for far less and obviously quite successfully when you have other countries (as Australia was) talking about it and giving it air time.

Take a look at the Aussie one here and then the Iceland one below....which one do you prefer?  I know which one is my favourite...but I am biased and obsessed!

Inspired by Iceland Video from Inspired By Iceland on Vimeo.

Hopefully my turn is coming soon...I certainly miss the place and can't wait to get back there!