The Brooklyn Brothers and Islenska scoop Grand Prix and four Gold Effie Awards for Promote Iceland Tourism Campaign
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London based creative agency The Brooklyn Brothers and Icelandic advertising agency Islenska scooped four EACA Euro Effies at the annual awards event in Brussels for their Inspired by Iceland tourism campaign, Ask Guðmundur. The agencies won jointly in four categories for the campaign, delivered on behalf of Promote Iceland; ‘Best Demonstration of Integrated Effectiveness’, ‘David vs. Goliath’, ‘Leisure & Entertainment’ and ‘Small Budget’.
Launched in April 2016 to promote the country of Iceland, Ask Guðmundur was a unique Internet service with a difference – the world’s first human search engine. The campaign invited questions from the world via #AskGuðmundur #IcelandSecret on Inspired by Iceland’s social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook and YouTube).
Offering a human alternative to traditional search engines, seven Icelanders from across Iceland volunteered for the role, offering insider knowledge, advice and local secrets to tourists seeking the ultimate Iceland experience. The service aimed to educate tourists about the diversity of Iceland showcasing the variety of activities and experiences across the countries seven regions. Each representative shared the name Guðmundur or Guðmunda, one of the most popular forenames in the country with over 4,000 men and women claiming it as their own.
The Ask Guðmundur campaign achieved an ROI of 15:1, 2201 PR articles were published, £3.5m media value achieved (PR & Social), 298m impressions delivered through outreach (PR & Social), 1.8m views of launch film (Facebook & YouTube) and over 1000s of questions asked.
Since 2010, The Brooklyn Brothers and Islenska have been working together as one integrated team after being appointed by Promote Iceland, developing the award-winning platform Inspired by Iceland to further Iceland’s strong image and reputation abroad. Together, the agencies truly cross the globe with their location, activations and reach. Islenska based in Reykavik, act as local partners with local knowledge, with excellence in production and delivery. The Brooklyn Brothers based in London are a global creative agency with a proven track record.
The Inspired by Iceland campaign has been one of the most awarded campaigns in global tourism and has helped to double the number of visitors to Iceland on an annual basis. This quadruple win follows numerous creative and effectiveness awards including three Cannes Lions, three Euro Effies (now seven in total), IPA Effectiveness and APG Gold awards.
Inga Hlín Pálsdóttir, director, tourism & creative industries at Promote Iceland said: “We’re esctatic with this outcome. Never did we think we would win one, let alone four! Together with The Brooklyn Brothers and Islenska, we are so proud of this campaign and for it to be recognised by the Euro Effies, which is first and foremost an effectiveness award, based upon proven results in the market place. It’s a real honour.”
George Bryant, founding partner & executive creative director at The Brooklyn Brothers said: “This really does prove how effective we have been working collectively as a team. Showing how we successfully develop engaging people powered campaigns that demonstrate how integrated social media and PR campaigns can effectively dominate the news agenda and positively contribute to visitor numbers. We couldn’t be prouder of this win!”
Kristjan Schram, director at Islenska said: “Words cannot describe how happy we are with this win with The Brooklyn Brothers and Promote Iceland. A few months ago, we had a glimmer of Ask Gudmundur’s global reach when we discovered Obama had mentioned our campaign in a State arrival speech. This quadruple win just about tops that!”
