Hasta La Ideas

It’s not everyday that the president of a foreign country invites you to the presidential palace promising to cook pancakes for you. But that’s exactly what seems to be happening in a new campaign by Brooklyn Brothers to boost tourism in Iceland…

The campaign, entitled Inspired By Iceland, sees a host of Icelandic folk pledging to introduce johnny foreigner to distinctly Icelandic experiences if they visit the country. To kickstart the campaign, president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson addressed his nation yesterday on national TV, asking the people of Iceland to open up their homes to tourists to encourage tourism during the autumn months:

Inspired by Iceland President’s Address from Inspired By Iceland on Vimeo.

The president, along with many less official Icelandic people, features in another film hosted on the campaign website – making his pledge to cook pancakes with his wife for a visitor to the country. This film also includes the country’s minister of industry energy and tourism who, unless we’re very much mistaken, is inviting tourists to travel to Iceland to share a foot bath (in a geo-thermal pool) by the coast with her:

Inspired by Iceland Invitations from Inspired By Iceland on Vimeo.

Check out the campaign website at inspiredbyiceland.com and watch videos of various Icelandic people who each offer to share a particular Icelandic experience with tourists – from listening to Icelandic songs, being given a personal shopping experience, meeting Icelandic sheep dogs, checking out the Northern Lights, knitting a traditional Iceland jumper, bathing in geo-thermal pools, climbing a mountain, and yes, eating pancackes – possibly with the president and his wife who also wants to show you the contents of their greenhouse. Friendly bunch, the Icelandic.