As travel reopened in 2021, competition heated up and Iceland needed a breakthrough creative idea that could win outsized attention. Iceland is universally outspent by competitors with bigger mass-media budgets, so in the face of this fiscal reality, we have a standing brief from Inspired By Iceland to produce low-cost, high-impact ideas that tap into current cultural conversations. The goal of these earned-first activations is to generate global media coverage not just in traditional travel publications but across categories—helping put Iceland higher on travelers’ consideration list.

In response to the Metaverse launch, Visit Iceland introduced the “Icelandverse,” a physically immersive, open-world experience that’s literally just the country of Iceland. The parody social film featured Chief Visionary Officer Zack Mossbergsson reminding travelers that Iceland is visually stunning, actually real, and can be experienced today—no silly-looking VR headsets required.

When producing the film, we purposefully mimicked key scenes from the original Metaverse launch and also incorporated nods to other moments that had been a meme on social media, like Mark Zuckerberg’s generous use of sunscreen while surfing.

We juxtaposed those scenes amongst a plethora of Iceland’s incredible natural experiences: geothermal water that is actually wet, northern lights you can see with your eyeballs, puffins you can watch, horses you can ride, and waterfalls you can stand near.

Inspired By Iceland on creative development and media strategy at breakneck speed. Within days of the Metaverse launch, we had devised an earned-first global media launch strategy to tell the story of the Icelandverse.

At a time when audiences were craving humor and every destination was contending for traveler attention, we chose a tongue-in-cheek approach, nodding to this significant cultural moment to help us stand out from the usual travel destination message track and tell a non-traditional story to a broader global audience.

Our key messages focused on the launch of Icelandverse and on reminding travelers around the world about the superiority of actual reality in Iceland. We invited them to discover breathtaking surroundings and endless landscapes in Iceland’s amazing reality, themselves.

When producing the film, we purposefully mimicked key scenes from the original Metaverse launch and also incorporated nods to other moments that had been a meme on social media, like Mark Zuckerberg’s generous use of sunscreen while surfing.

Within 12 days of the original Metaverse launch, we had released the film on the same social channels—including the ones that just so happen to be owned by the guy and company we were parodying.

Within just 24 hours, Mark Zuckerberg replied on Facebook and Inspired by Iceland followed up with an invitation to visit. This real-time conversation further boosted our PR pickup.

The Icelandverse quickly gained global attention as the video racked up over 6 million views on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and yes, even Facebook. Within 24 hours of going live, Mark Zuckerberg himself weighed in, commenting, “Amazing. I need to make a trip to the Icelandverse soon.” And with over one thousand global news stories from major outlets like the Wall Street Journal, Daily Mail, The Economist, Washington Post, and CNN, the campaign earned over 6 billion media impressions—leading Inspired by Iceland to declare the “Icelandverse” their most successful marketing campaign ever, just 10 days after the film’s launch on social.