VisitSweden: The quest for the last Norwegian

In order to attract attention to Sweden as a travel destination among Norwegians, VisitSweden in corporation with PR-operatørene sent May-Britt Jenssveen on a special journey. Jensveen had never been to Sweden, representing two percent of the Norwegian population. We called this the “zero vision”. The campaign ended with a high reach in both traditional and social media.

It was discovered in VisitSweden’s annual survey that under two percent of the grown Norwegian population never had been to Sweden, even if they would like to. As a result, VisitSweden and PR-operatørene launched a “zero vision”.

Raise awareness around Sweden as a travel destination for Norwegians. Furthermore, the Swedish ambassador in Norway and the Swedish tourist manager in Norway both joined the campaign, committing to the message; Making sure the last 68.000 Norwegians get to explore Sweden.

First part of the process was to find one representative among the 68.000. The representative was thought to be a guest of honour in Sweden, taken on a dream journey. The campaigned kicked off when the ambassador and VisitSweden manager were interviewed on TV2’s “God Morgen Norge”. Other magazines and large media such as Norway’s most popular radio channel picked up the news securing a wide range of attention.

After a few weeks with applications and interviews 49 year-old May-Britt Jenssveen was picked to represent and be a guest of honour in Sweden. This led to attention in local media, in addition to attention in travel magazines and an interview on national radio.

Jenssveen got an extraordinary experience, visiting Stockholm, Gøteborg and the Skåne region. She was a special guest at “Hotel King” Petter Stordalen’s opening of a new hotel, visited the famous Liseberg Tivoli and met the Swedish international football team in Zlatan’s hometown Malmø. Moreover, she experienced some of Sweden’s finest restaurants.

When Jenssveen got back to Norway she was invited as a special guest on Sweden’s National Day at the embassy residence. As a result of this she then was invited to join both TV2’s “God Morgen Norge” and “Nitimen” at P1 Radio.

In total the project ended with a reach on almost four million in traditional media. Social media gave a reach of roughly 500.000. NRK “Nitimen” shared several videos, and Petter Stordalen with over 50.000 followers shared three posts related to the campaign.