Icelandair has a problem. Tourists don’t want to leave. The airline began talking about it in April, when it went searching for Oliver in a global campaign by Pablo, Easy to stop, hard to leave. Now in an online and social campaign by social media agency, Kubbco, and production company, Hvíta Húsið, Icelandair introduces its solution, The Polite Tourist Bouncer, Hugi
Hugi finds tourists who have overstayed their stopover and sends them home. In the mockumentary campaign film, Hugi demonstrates the difficulties of his job because of tourists’ love for Iceland and his own solution, the “legendary” Icelandic sheepdog who rounds up tourists for him.
The campaign highlights the benefits of Icelandair’s Stopover offering, where customers can book a stopover in Iceland between European and North American destinations.
The film is running on YouTube and across social, and is supported by a series of unique content pieces and behind-the-scenes extras. The next part of the campaign, also created by Kubbco, introduces The Returning Stopover Tourist and will launch early next year.
Icelandair has been offering its customers the option to book an Iceland stopover since the 1960s, growing in popularity in the early 2000s. Through the stopover, you can stay in Iceland at no additional airfare as you cross the Atlantic, giving Icelandair the chance of reaching out to an audience willing to experience something out of the ordinary, as part of their journey.
Gísli Brynjólfsson, marketing director at Icelandair, stated, “The Icelandair Stopover is an important component of our business model, and one we want to continue to grow and raise awareness of. With this new series, we’re excited for the next stage of our “Easy to Stop. Hard to Leave” campaign continuing to offer consumers a new way of viewing transatlantic travel. We want to turn something normally seen as an ordinary part of a journey, into an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime part of their trip.”
Emils Lukasevics, chief creative director at Kubbco, added, “Making the concept of Easy to Stop. Hard to Leave come to life on social media has been an incredible task that we’re proud to be a part of. With Hugi – the Polite Tourist Bouncer, we’ve tapped into the loveable and warm spirit of Iceland. On top of that, we’ve created a unique social-first campaign that is shareable, engaging, and will bring more tourists to Iceland for a stopover. It’s great to see a brand like Icelandair embrace social-first campaigns instead of doing cut downs of commercials made for TV – which is not favoured by either platform or the audience.”
Credits
Client: Icelandair
Marketing Director: Gísli Brynjólfsson
Digital Marketing Manager: Johann Benediktsson
Global Brand Manager: Guðrún Haraldsdóttir
Agency: Kubbco
Chief Creative Officer: Emils Lukasevics
Copywriter: Josefine Forslund
Script: Sean Berndorff
Chief Strategy Officer: David Juul Ledstrup
Planner: Mads Viksnins
Editor: Renars Kaulins
Colour Grading: Artūras Buividavičius
Account Management: Yu Zhao
Project Manager: Tai Carstensen
Production Company: Hvíta Húsio
Producer & Director: Guðmundur Þór Kárason
Assistant Producer: Sveindís Guðmundsdottir
DOP: Tómas Örn Tómasson
Sound Engineer: Sigurður Ingvar Þorvaldsson
Set Designer: Aron Bergmann Magnússon
Costumes & Casting: Alda Björg Guðjónsdóttir
Make-up Artist: Sunna Björk Erlingsdóttir
Production Assistant: Orri Guðmundsson
Behind the scenes DOP: Sigurður Pétur Sigurðsson
Marketing Consultant: Eirikur Gudleifsson
Where the campaign began:
