Marketing campaigns are very much like Yorkshire puddings. Made well and baked in an oven that's having a good day (plus a sprinkling of luck), they rise to glorious heights — one could even say they're life-changing. A bad Yorkshire pudding, though, can ruin a Yorkshirian's week and all those who sample said pudding, bringing shame upon the maker's family and leaving disappointed taste buds with much to desire.
Joking, of course, but people can at least laugh about god-awful Yorkshire pudding — that indulgent, chunky, golden lump of baked batter, ruined (however, passionate Yorkshirans might get a little emotional about a truly horrendous one). That's a terrible analogy to try to make a point. Satire aside, the same can be said about marketing campaigns.
When they excel, they go viral. Bad? Laughable. That said, one thing's surefire: good or bad, they're memorable — and that's the marketing team's goal. Great success!
There's no force quite like a destination's tourism marketing nerds, especially at a time like now. After over two years of pandemic-related restrictions, borders are open, and countries are falling over themselves to garner tourists' attention. That's why the tourism marketing teams attempt to produce the next blockbuster travel campaign. 2022 was the first travel-friendly year since the pandemic began, after all — a period when restrictions eased up and vacation hotspots desperate for tourist cash bid for travelers' bookings.
Some destinations spent exorbitant sums of money on marketing, shooting stunning footage of their tourist offerings and authentic portrayals of their locations, with many even onboarding celebrities in their marketing content. This surge of national and regional tourist departments worldwide deploying fresh ads to entice international travelers to their lands led to some truly unique content. And, like a Yorkshire pudding, some of these campaigns were outstanding — even iconic. Others, however — well, keep reading to get the picture.
From emotional and beautiful country reopening videos to horror-themed quick flicks and call-to-actions inciting space exploration on Earth (hello, Iceland, you clever rascal, you), these campaigns from several tourist destinations caught the spotlight in 2022 with their wonderful, wacky, and even weird videos to spark tourism. Indeed, perhaps the most bizarre (and hilarious) of them all was an actual belly touring one of Europe's most famous cities — yes, a rather large tummy evoking (and practically inciting) the important message of sheer indulgence even piggery on one's vacay. What happens on vacation, stays on vacation — and on the waistline, in some epically indulgent cases wherein some travelers go home with more baggage than when they departed.
10 Iceland: Explore Martian Lands (With Two Feet On Earth)
2022 was the year when big-name companies (not naming any names) urged people to travel to outer space for a vacation — an experience reserved for folks with the deepest pockets, that is (sorry, mere mortals with bills to pay).
What Iceland wants holiday-starved globetrotters to know, however, is this: a spaceship isn't necessary to relish a space-like adventure; all anyone needs to do for a once-in-a-lifetime Martian trip is to visit the Land of Ice and Fire instead.
Mission Iceland took tourism marketing to new heights — literally. It launched its first-ever space billboard (indeed, a billboard that reached the stratosphere). This genius campaign encouraged aspiring space tourists to consider Iceland as an alternative destination to the stars. Why?
Well, visitors can experience Mars-like landscapes, with Mission Iceland's core message evidenced by its extraterrestrial beauty and natural splendor: Iceland is a lot like outer space, but better.
There’s zero need to blast off into space (and spend a lifetime's earnings in doing so) when travelers can head to Iceland for a Martian vacation at a fraction of the cost, time, and, perhaps best of all, carbon footprint.
Rolling red hills, black sand beaches, bubbling volcanoes, and some of Europe’s largest glacial lagoons are right here on planet Earth — numerous in Iceland, specifically.
9 Vienna: What Does A Belly Do In Vienna?
What does a belly do in a place commonly cited as the most beautiful city in Europe? The Vienna Tourist Board's October 2022 campaign answers that question in what's quite possibly the most hilarious yet bizarre advertisement yet from any tourism marketing department.
They even made it into a short film, documenting the life of a literal walking and talking abdomen on a Vienna vacation.
Herr Belly's journey in this video is heartfelt (right in the coronary) and honest: traveling should be a time when those everyday rules relax, and the belly is free to do as belly pleases (or the person, of course — it would appear that Mr. Belly is a comedic metaphor — but done so well in a way that generates sumptuous emotions and a belly full of laughter).
The six-minute story documents a rotund gut who leaves his human, Harry — who's obsessed with working out. Belly thus jets off to Vienna, where it samples all the city has to offer, meandering through the streets, viewing artworks, and sampling some Sacher torte in its hotel bed.
Human Harry does come to find Belly eventually, which leads to them enjoying a nice date together in a Viennese restaurant.
The finishing line of this cinematic triumph: "The most beautiful way to love yourself is to indulge" — a message reigning true when on a weekend trip to Vienna or a weeks-long escapade anywhere else on the planet.
8 South Africa: Live Again!
Launched in March 2022 — a time when a sizable chunk of the world remained locked down — South Africa's three-minute video was a delightful take on the travel world post-Omicron (when nobody yet knew what was to come).
While the campaign was superb, it was indeed brave after the first cases of the Omicron variant were recorded in South Africa and the nation faced travel bans from many countries around the world.
In the video, a young woman looks fed up with it all in a dark and rainy-looking London — classic British weather (that's why they console themselves with doughy Yorkshire puddings).
She then emerges into the light in Cape Town, South Africa, and colors paint the scene bright with vibrancy — a faraway sight from the grumpy grays of England.
The woman experiences quintessential South African bucket list items, going off on a safari to the Drakensberg escarpment while the nation's natural beauty completes the picture. Despite the breathtaking scenery more than enough to convey the message, the story focuses on human connections that people missed during COVID-19 lockdowns.
Her massage, her mingling with surfers, her sunset beach rides, and her partying that ends the video — these are those connections that everyone took for granted before the pandemic, which became unthinkable throughout its timeline.
After showcasing imagery that leaves viewers feeling as though they know what South Africa is really like, the final message, "Come as you are, leave as you'll never be again. Live again!" ends the emotional journey — telling viewers to enjoy these previously unthinkable experiences once again.
Where better to do so than the sublime, culture-rich, nature-laden lands and shores of South Africa?
7 Sweden: Spellbound
Sweden has given the world many things. Gorgeous green spaces, Abba, IKEA, and Greta Thunberg, to name but a few. Last year, though, this Scandinavian nation delivered possibly the strangest (but coolest?) bid for tourism yet — a Blair Witch-style, cheesy horror flick filmed in the woods.
Right on time for Halloween in 2022, Visit Sweden released a two-minute-long horror short promoting the country. The video is narrated by "Sweden", with the scene set in a forest — representing the country's "soul".
Much like a Hollywood horror, it lulls viewers into a sense of security, showcasing idyllic images — before the quintessential, corny flasher thrills begin.
The story details the character "Sam", who meets a beautiful woman who is, in fact, unbeknownst to him, a huldra — an eerie, creepy forest nymph. The moral of the tale, narrator Sweden warns, is "What happened in the forest is something you will regard as a dream, but that is not how it is going to be."
Not exactly a way to attract tourists, is it? Unless they love scary movies.
Some of the context behind the short film comes from the very end of the film when it also promotes Kiln, a "chilling audio story" by Swedish horror writer John Ajvide Lindqvist, which, according to the ominous tale, is downloadable "in the Swedish forest" — whatever that means.
6 Rwanda: Lionel Messi
It was Lionel Messi's year — and what a way to end playing for his home country's team.
His 2022 World Cup win for Argentina wasn't the only awesome activity he got up to last year, though. Legendary Messi and his Paris Saint-Germain soccer co-star, Sergio Ramos, ventured to Rwanda for Visit Rwanda's 2022 campaign.
The campaign, titled "Tee off your next adventure in Rwanda", was released just before the new year to kickstart the country's tourism once again, featuring a handful of sporting stars to really grab the world's attention.
The 100-second-long video opens with former soccer goalkeeper Jérôme Alonzo, who is seen playing golf during his retirement. The camera follows his golf ball, which lands in the world-famous Parc des Princes stadium before getting kicked around by the players.
Next, the well-traveled ball flies off to Rwanda, gliding through the air over the nation's most breathtaking landscapes.
After some fun cinematography (and cameos from gorillas), the short video returns to the golf course, where a young girl ends the shot with a majestic hole-in-one.
5 Vilnius, Lithuania: Vilnius's Belated Birthday Cards
Lithuania and its attractions offer tourists plenty, particularly the capital city — but what does that even matter if people can't point it out on a map, let alone know it exists?
The city's tourism marketing team evidently understands this reality yet goes with it anyway, reclaiming the world's obliviousness and using it to create a witty video, which so bluntly gets it over and done with from the get-go.
"Nobody knows where Vilnius is", the video proclaims (perhaps even proudly?), and it's that self-deprecating humor that earns the content a spot on this list — it's likable, honest, and charismatic. It says it as it is without dishonest sugar-coating that travel ads are notoriously guilty of.
Even the city’s tourism marketing team can’t argue the truth; they know nobody knows where their city is.
Open up a new tab and look at a map of Europe (there’s a free hint) – five bucks and a bowl of Šaltibarščiai say finding the pot at the end of the rainbow is easier than pointing out Vilnius on an atlas.
Those responsible for the city's tourism campaigns ran with the world's unfamiliarity with Vilnius in previous years, too; they rewrote a Christmas carol dubbed "Christmas in Vilnius: Amazing wherever you think it is".
That self-mockery at work again — glorious marketing perfection. Heck, this theme is a darn sight more lighthearted than those former campaigns from Vilnius were laced in; in true, hilarious, audacious fashion, the city was branded under a somewhat NSFW but epic name at one point (perhaps check this one on Google; this site is family-friendly!).
Vilnius's latest campaign captures that same self-taking-the-micky-out-of-comedy value but shapes it into a cheeky birthday celebration.
It's all about the city's seven hundredth anniversary — indeed, Vilnius turns 700 in 2023. The retro, '80s-styled video explains, "After most of the world forgot Vilnius' last 699 birthdays, we came up with a solution for its 700th," — the solution being a "belated birthday e-card collection."
The ad showcases several entertaining birthday cards and instructs viewers to send their own.
4 Australia: G'day
Australia's fun, loud, and awesome personality is known worldwide, and its nine-minute film "G'day", captures its essence perfectly.
The video went pretty much viral, gaining 19 million YouTube views — in its first month. Starring Rose Byrne as Ruby, a toy kangaroo, and Will Arnett as Louie, a toy unicorn, the short movie took a leaf out of the long-loved Toy Story's book.
The campaign, "Come and say g'day," follows the pair on an Aussie adventure, starting with their escape from a Great Barrier Reef gift shop. They subsequently venture to Nitmiluk Gorge, Uluru, the Great Barrier Reef, and even the Sydney Opera House.
Finalizing the tale with "Down Under, 'g'day' is the start of every good adventure", Byrne closes the toys' chapter, further ending it with the one-liner, "It's our way of saying, 'If you're not a friend yet, you will be, mate".
Friendly and endearing (even if feeling scripted), it's a wholesome take on a travel ad (with zero expletives — not what one would typically expect from an Aussie production. Just kidding, kinda).
3 South Korea: Shall We Play #Korea
"Shall we play Korea" graced screens in November, entailing a fun, short-and-sweet glimpse at South Korea and its best places, and what it offers as a country (clue: it promises something for every kind of visitor — be it family-friendly attractions, fun for the elders, dreams for the kids and teens, and romantic retreats for couples.
From golfing and paragliding to road-tripping across the country, this campaign delivers an important message: there's fun for all. And how can anyone forget K-pop dancing? Well, when in Rome...
2 Morocco: Kingdom Of Light
Morocco means natural wonders, tradition, rich culture, mouthwatering food, remarkable historic attractions, and stunning scenery.
It's a land to which many visitors escape — to get away from the conventional western lifestyle and experience something beautifully different.
In a country like Morocco, tradition and customs are prominent and experiences in themselves, but the country's tourism campaign released in May took them and created a tasty cocktail with the new.
The tasteful video combines the treats that tourists visit Morocco for — the enchanting traditional gifts of Tajines, souks, and the exquisite Badi Palace in Marrakech — with modern Morocco.
Think contemporary dance in the breathtaking Badi Palace, golfing in the undulating Moroccan dunes, and dazzling art exhibitions in the desert. The wonderful background music is the cherry on top, too.
1 Virgin Atlantic: See The World Differently
This entry isn't a destination as such, granted. But give it a chance — it deserves its place on the list.
Virgin Atlantic is one of the world's most famous airlines; most people recognize the brand, and a heck of a lot more will now, thanks to its wholesome yet totally cool ad that does things, well, a little differently.
Titled "See the world differently", the campaign certainly practices what it preaches. It starts out unassuming, leaving viewers with the ordinary thought, "urgh, another cheesy airline ad?".
Featuring smartly uniformed flight attendants, airport scenes, and travelers rushing through, indeed, the video does feel like nothing special — but that internal voice ends very quickly. The quirky passengers and fabulous airline staff break the norm seconds in.
They're no same-same Jane and John Does nor supermodels; they're funny-face-pulling punk rockers, fierce male flight attendants with fabulous glittering make-up (who can clearly walk like catwalk models, by the way), colorful suit-donning guys wearing shades indoors, and cute-n-cheeky kids, among other unconventional characters.
Wouldn't put it past them not to be sandals-and-socks wearers, too.
The picture's painted; it's a cool ad showing off the beauty of diversity in the human population — but it does it in such a fun, electric way that it's hard to pull the eyes away from the screen. And goodness, the soundtrack — it's sensational.
The backing tune is as positively upbeat as it is catchy, a cover by jazz/soul artist Lady Blackbird of the 1983 Broadway hit song "I am what I am", which was originally composed by Jerry Herman for the musical La Cage aux Folles.
The music, perfectly blended with the filming, leaves the end of the ad feeling utterly wholesome as if viewers have just returned from a journey with these funky folks on board the sizable aircraft.
The ending? Cool as heck. It finalizes with a James Bond-like scene, a female pilot jetting her plane full of passengers off into the sunset horizon — what a way to inspire travelers and little girls simultaneously, the latter informed without any words that they, too, can become a pilot if they so desire. Seriously, just watch it and feel the feels.
Bravo, Virgin Atlantic, bravo. Is an encore too much to ask?