I’ve written a lot about the state of tourism advertising.
To be honest, there’s very few categories that do it worse.
A mass of generic vignettes that shows every possible activity you can do with a bad line stuck at the end that generally tends to be some over-promising superlative placed before the name of country the ad is about.
There have been a few exceptions.
The original ‘100% Pure’ New Zealand campaign is one, but there’s not been many more.
Which is why I loved this poster that appeared in Helsinki …
OK, so they are preaching to the converted – given anyone who saw it happened to be there anyway – but it’s just a great way to make someone feel special and welcomed.
I love it.
I love it for so many reasons.
I love how they celebrate their visitors while also acknowledging they’re bloody nutcase.
I can imagine a tourist seeing that, agreeing it was a mental thing to do and then walking away smiling … feeling better about their decision and themselves.
That’s pretty impressive. Especially for a poster.
Which all goes to show that brands that are self aware can connect to culture better than brands that are bland egomaniacs.