Monday Ice: Íslander

This is the trailer to a film by London based film director Rupert Murray about Icelanders inviting the world into their homes.  I wrote about the initial campaign here.

Íslander - 4 minute version from Inspired By Iceland on Vimeo.

Monday Ice: The people of Iceland invite you to...

There is a new tourist campaign going on in this country to encourage visitors to visit Iceland in the autumn/winter season.  It started in Oct and continues on through the winter and does seem to have captured the imagination of many Icelanders who wish to give you the visitor a more intimate experience whilst you are here.

THE PEOPLE OF ICELAND INVITE YOU from Inspired By Iceland on Vimeo.

The president of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson started off the campaign by asking fellow Icelanders to open up their homes to tourists. 

Inspired by Iceland President's Address from Inspired By Iceland on Vimeo.

And here is the presidents own invitation to tourists to visit his home for coffee and pancakes.

Inspired by Iceland Invitations from Inspired By Iceland on Vimeo.

If you are thinking of visiting Iceland perhaps do it over the winter, flights and accommodation are always cheaper at this time of the year (especially before or just after the Christmas season).  But before you leave home check out this invitation page to see what is on offer if you want to know more about a particular invite click on the link see more and reply via the Facebook connect window.

This final little video is of the President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson and First Lady Dorrit Moussaieff with the twenty people who accepted their invitation to visit the Presidential home for coffee and pancakes at 4pm on November 11th 2011.  I am sure these tourists will have no trouble remembering what they did on the 11.11.11 in years to come.

PANCAKES WITH THE PRESIDENT from Inspired By Iceland on Vimeo.

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!