THE CONTEXT:
During the summer of 2021, after a year of lockdown, leisure travel finally started to become possible again. Despite stiff competition from countries with much larger budgets, Iceland needed to capitalize on the moment, capture tourism dollars, and help revitalize their economy. Their goal was to become the top post-pandemic travel destination for First Movers. But in order to break through, Iceland needed an earned-first idea that would strike a cultural and emotional nerve.
THE INSIGHT:
We knew that first trip out into the world would be a huge step for people to take, both literally and emotionally. People had been shut inside for months, doing nothing and wearing nothing but the same old, sad sweatpants. To help travelers get up off the couch and onto the Icelandic trails and city streets, we needed to make sure they would be properly outfitted.
THE IDEA:
Iceland created the world’s first sweatpant boots. They would take travelers’ actual lockdown sweatpants and turn them into custom hiking boots suitable for scaling a volcano, frolicking through a fjord, or gallivanting across a glacier. The limited-edition, handmade, sweatpant boots would be available only to those adventurous enough to come to Iceland (sweatpants in hand) to collect them.
THE EXECUTION:
We invited the world to trade in their pandemic sweatpants for boots with a music video featuring Icelandic artist Cell7 that drove to sweatpantboots.com. There, travelers could reserve a pair of their very own sweatpant boots or explore Iceland with a virtual sweatpant boots try-on. We enlisted global influencers to film unboxing videos, and we built and staffed a pop-up shop in Reykjavik. Open for one month only, travelers with a reservation could trade in their pants and get their custom boots created by an Icelandic designer.
THE RESULTS:
Within 24 hours of launch every single pair had been claimed. We had to bring in reinforcements to help make more sweatpant boots and open up more spots. The 360-degree campaign shattered our earned media goals, with over 110 global articles and over 1.1 billion impressions by the end of the summer.
