“To be honest, I don’t think I’ll come here,” says Halfdan, a 30-something who is thoroughly unimpressed with Oslo as he wanders around his hometown, trying to spot its charms. “Is this even a city?”
This is the beginning of a deadpan, understated one-minute, 45-second video that’s being hailed as the best tourism ad of the summer. In it, our local guide points out a lot of things about Oslo that he doesn’t think are all that great, but that are, in fact, great — like not having to queue to get into a restaurant. “What does that say?” he asks, suggesting that the beautiful plate of food in front of him isn’t.
Just walking through the city, you might bump into a member of the royal family. It only takes about 30 minutes to walk. “Try that in New York or Paris,” he says in a disappointed tone, as if the city is not big or impressive enough. In front of Norway’s most famous painting, “The Scream” by artist Edvard Munch, he shrugs and comments, “It’s not even close to the Mona Lisa.” He wonders aloud if it’s worth going if he doesn’t have to wait hours to get into the museum. All this while walking through a city with a perfect view, where people swim, drink in designer bars and enjoy the slow pace of life. Irony galore.
The ad was the brainchild of Oslo Tourist Board Marketing Director Ann-Signe Fageleng, who wanted to do something different. “We wanted to take advantage of our under-the-radar position on European city travel,” she says. “Oslo is like the unknown brother of Stockholm and Copenhagen, and we wanted to make sure the world understood what’s been going on in Oslo over the last 20 years.”
It’s also a great way to showcase the dry sense of humor, non-elitism, openness and friendliness found in the Norwegian capital. The ad was created in collaboration with NewsLab, an Oslo-based content agency led by producer August Hjorfjalld, whose idea also came from his own travels around Europe.
“There’s something sad and strange about being a tourist right now,” he says. “There’s conflicting emotions, especially in cities like Barcelona or Paris, which suffer from too many tourists. I’m a tourist, but I also want to experience the real thing. When I travel, I look for authentic experiences, like finding the best place to have a beer when I’m in Liverpool. That’s what I look for. Oslo is appealing in that it’s a city where people live, but they’re not inhabited for tourism.”
The ad was inspired by Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli’s “Scandinavian Week” commercial for Belgian TV (in which a bored-looking Norwegian guide reluctantly leads a TV crew through a fjord) and Joachim Trier’s Oslo-set film “The Worst Person in the World.”
“The difference is that we focused on showing the best of Oslo, and stayed up early and late to find the right transitional light,” August says. “The contrast between what Halfdan says and what is shown in the photos is just the biggest there.”
For Fageleng, the results have been astounding: over 2 million views across Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, and counting. “I never knew advertising could still have such an impact,” she said.
Joe Fuld’s response to the success of the ad was typically understated: “It’s hard to explain why it’s so popular,” he says. “I just wanted to make something that I enjoyed. That’s my main motivation for making anything creative.”
Perhaps the reason for its success is that undiscovered gems are harder to find these days and, while southern Europe suffers from heat and over-tourism, this quiet, cool capital of northern Europe is quickly becoming a stress-free holiday destination of the dreams.
