Looks like you need to let it out
Promote Iceland
Issue 56 | September 2020
Agency
M&C Saatchi Group
Creative Team
Senior Copywriter Camila Gurgel Senior Art Director Ieva Paulina
Production Team
Agency Producer Craig von Wiederhold Production Company Skot Productions, Iceland Global Agency Partner SS+K
Other Credits
PR Agency M&C Saatchi TALK
Date
July 2020
Background
With tourism fundamental to Iceland’s economy, the country needed to be first in line for travellers once the world re-emerged from its COVID freeze. As and when people started to book holidays again, Iceland wanted to be top-of-mind as a destination.
Idea
To relieve their tension and to feel renewed, Iceland invited the citizens of the world to let out their frustrations into its vast and beautiful landscapes.
Inspired by the practice of ‘scream therapy’, ‘Looks like you need to let it out’ captured screams, yells and shouts from anyone, anywhere in the world and released them through speakers located in seven stunning and remote locations across the island.
Participants could see (and hear) their screams being released in real-time.
For two weeks, visitors to lookslikeyouneediceland.com could scream and see and hear their howls in real-time as they were released from the peak of Festarfjall in Reykjanes Peninsula, on the tranquil shores of Djúpivogur in East Iceland or at the roaring Skógarfoss waterfall in the south.
Results
In just two weeks the campaign earned coverage in 800+ outlets, reaching a combined audience of two billion people, reaching 641m people globally on launch day alone. It has been dubbed “2020’s ultimate tourism campaign”, and lifted travel intent by double figures in record time.
Our Thoughts
In March, the travel industry was expected to lose revenues of $820 billion. Those numbers will be higher now. Not only are there fewer travellers, there has been a 50% decrease in visits to travel destinations online. Just getting people to go to the website is an achievement. Once you’re there and you’ve screamed, you can take a tour of the country and even book a trip.
Iceland is open.
I love this idea because it gives people permission to both recognise and alleviate the pressures of lockdown while showing them a beautiful and beautifully empty country.