Odd Danish Appeal To Tourists Draws Attention

Wednesday, September 16, 2009, 12:23

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Honestly, the subject of this week’s article is a bit controversial; you may either take it as a great example of what to do or a model of the sort of thing to go nowhere near. But a commercial designed to promote Denmark as a tourist hotspot is without question turning heads.

Not too long ago, a video featuring a woman and a baby started floating around the Web. The woman, who was Danish, claimed that the baby was the result of a one-night stand with a tourist, and said she was seeking the baby’s father. Viewers were supposed to help. Only reporters found out that the Danish government and the Grey Group advertising agency were behind the video.

So did promoting Denmark as a place where local women get drunk and fall into bed with strangers turn out to be a good idea? A lot of people are offended, but that’s raised the profile of the video and Denmark even more.

In fact, Liz Shannon Miller wrote that Grey Group “claims it’s a major success, citing 1.9 million Google searches and 773,000 YouTube viewings. Of course, that’s before the video was taken down, for reasons that haven’t yet been admitted – my theory is that VisitDenmark didn’t believe the hoax would be uncovered so quickly, and thus had no contingency plan in place. (A cautionary tale for all you viral marketers out there.)”

So there are a few facts about the latest Internet marketing effort to attract a lot of eyes. Make of them what you will.