In 2014, Denmark’s declining birth-rate was at a 27 year low. With just 1.7 children per family there was concern that the relatively small population could not sustain itself in the future. Danish travel company Spies Rejser addressed the problem with a ‘Do It For Denmark’ ad campaign calling on couples to take a city holiday, as apparently 10% of Danish children are conceived on holiday and Danes are 46% more likely to have sex on holiday.
There was also a touch of commercial direction behind the campaign as Spies offered ‘ovulation’ discounts when people booked a holiday and there was a competition to win 3 years’ worth of baby supplies and a family holiday if you proved that you conceived a baby on holiday. The campaign went viral resulting in a huge boost in web traffic and also worked on the baby making front. There were an additional 1,600 babies than the previous year – a 14% increase!
In 2015, they repeated this formula with the ‘Do It For Mom’ campaign. This campaign introduced a feature to help parents pay for their adult kids’ vacation – once the itinerary is booked, Spies will offer a discount of up to 1,000 Danish Krone (appx. € 134) toward the holiday package. The ad finishes proudly, “Do it for Denmark. Do it for Mom. Delivery within nine months not guaranteed.” And the efforts are paying off. According to Danmarks Statistik – the official national statistics bureau – 1,000 more babies were born in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2015. At this rate, the annual birth rate could top 60,000 for the first time in six years.
All Response Media Viewpoint
This successful case proves that the award winning creative execution of an apparently ‘simple’ marketing objective – raise awareness of city holidays and get people travelling abroad through Spies Rejser – was very important. By claiming an alleged governmental stature to this message the Danes were, believe it or not, held accountable for their patriotism, although the humour was clear to see. Funny enough the general outtake of this campaign is that the number of births increased while the real objective of Spies was also achieved: they saw an increase of 95% in city holidays booking!
