Tourism Ireland has launched its first global campaign for seven years and in an industry-first it has been created by the heart rate data of two visitors to Ireland.
Tourism Ireland invited a real married couple from Sweden – who had never visited Ireland before – to take a trip here, wearing custom-made technology to track their physiological responses along the way. The couple was hooked up to covert heart monitors, which were linked to a head-mounted camera that captured all of their experiences. The data provided by these heart rate monitors determined what footage would feature in the advertising.
The result is a campaign that proves the heart-filling effect that the island of Ireland has on our visitors – whether they’re kayaking on Achill Island, exploring Devenish Island in Co Fermanagh, or climbing the highest sea cliffs in Europe at Slieve League.
According to Mark Henry, Tourism Ireland’s Central Marketing Director: “This is the first major global campaign for Tourism Ireland in seven years. It is a truly innovative approach which will set the island of Ireland apart from our competitor destinations. ‘Fill Your Heart with Ireland’ has been designed to drive continued growth to the regions and to encourage visitors to travel off-peak. It features locations that have been less visited by overseas visitors and highlights outdoor activities like cycling, walking and kayaking. We are confident that our new campaign will help deliver another record year for tourism in 2019.”
After eight years of consecutive tourism growth, Tourism Ireland is focusing its new campaign on locations that many potential visitors may not know. This first phase of the campaign highlights 16 less well-known locations and attractions – all of them having affected the heart rates of our couple! This goes to show that even our hidden gems, just as much as our better-known attractions, can excite, inspire and entertain.
“This is the world’s first-ever marketing campaign to use tourists’ biometric data to design an advert. We have combined data and creativity to literally show how the island of Ireland fills visitors’ hearts with positive emotion. The ad has researched extremely positively because viewers can see it is clearly authentic and credible; and we’re confident that it will motivate them to want to travel to Ireland to experience this for themselves,” says Henry.
According to Henry, the couple each took turns at wearing a helmet mounted camera to give a unique point of view style of shooting that captures exactly what they were viewing. In addition, both wore a heart rate monitor during their time in Ireland, so that Tourism Ireland was able to track the physiological effect that time holidaying in Ireland had on them. Every time their heart rate changed, a wireless computer logged that information, meaning that throughout their trip, every experience was tracked.
The campaign was created by Publicis London and directed by Patrik Gyllström. It features the track ‘Home Again’ by Dublin band Delorentos and is launching this week in cinemas, on TV and on social platforms in Tourism Ireland’s top four markets – the United States, Britain, France and Germany. The campaign will roll out further in the new year in Canada, Australia, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.
Additional content will be filmed throughout 2019 and will include locations in Ireland’s Ancient East, Northern Ireland and Dublin to complement this initial campaign – to ensure coverage of lots of additional locations and activities.
Tourism Ireland has also created a short film about how the campaign was created. See below.
