A new activation campaign from tourism organization VisitDenmark wants to put the land of “hygge” on the map as the antidote to bucket list tourism.
Using artificial intelligence, Mona Lisa, the Statue of Liberty, and other iconic tourist attractions come to life with a simple message: Don’t come see me – visit Denmark instead. Other than its cheeky approach, the campaign stands out by being completely written by artificial intelligence.
“Imagine that you are Mona Lisa. Write a speech on why people should visit Denmark instead of standing in line to see you.“
This was the prompt given to an artificial intelligence to create the script of one of a series of videos in which tourist attractions from all over the world turn against themselves and recommend visiting Denmark – rather than standing in line at the Louvre or seeing the Statue of Liberty in a sea of selfie-sticks. Executing on the brand campaign ‘Don’t be a tourist – be an Explorist’, VisitDenmark positions Denmark as the antidote to bucket list tourism.
Louis Pilmark, creative director at Danish advertisement agency Brandhouse/Subsero, said: “Having iconic attractions from popular tourist destinations turn on themselves is a good way to highlight the absurdity of doing and seeing the same things as everyone else. Who better to explain it, than the paintings and statues that see millions of tourists every year.
Iconic art meets trending tech
Other than the slightly teasing approach, the campaign is unique in that both the scripts and the visuals are created by artificial intelligence. While the new techniques like deepfake and motion synthesis have been used to bring images to life in the last couple of years, the addition of scripts generated completely by AI makes it one of the first campaigns to combine the two technologies.
Kathrine Lind Gustavussen, senior PR at VisitDenmark, said: ”The scripts are 100% generated by AI – we didn’t write a single word, we only removed parts and bits that were too long or simply not true. While it felt somewhat risky to put our entire messaging in the hands of artificial intelligence, we’re excited to be at the forefront of the tourism industry, using cutting-edge technology to bring our creative visions and messages to life.”
Tourist attractions aren’t so attractive anymore
The overall campaign, developed by London-based creative agency Fold7 builds on an insight that bucket list tourist has lost its lustre. A study conducted in the UK, Sweden and Germany validated our hypothesis that ‘feeling like a tourist’ would ruin a holiday. More than half of the respondents agreed that overcrowded tourist sites and landmark were a reason for holiday disappointment.
Yelena Gaufman, strategy partner at Fold7, said: “Denmark may not be a bucket list destination and the wonders there aren’t big and dramatic, but they are small and plentiful. We saw this as a huge opportunity to attract a different kind of traveller, the anti-tourist, the Explorist.”
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