AI-Powered Foreign Tourist Sites Playfully Extol Denmark’s Virtues in Innovative Marketing Campaign

Skift Take

The campaign showcases VisitDenmark’s early adoption of artificial intelligence. We’re excited to see what other destinations create … even if we are unsure whether it’s AI.

Samantha Shankman, Skift

VisitDenmark is turning to deepfake artificial intelligence to help drum up interest in the country. Its latest marketing campaign includes iconic tourist attractions outside the country like the Mona Lisa and the Statue of Liberty sharing a simple message, “Don’t come to see me — visit Denmark.”

The campaign features AI-generated scripts telling prospective visitors the opportunities Denmark offers, especially outside of its major cities. The centerpiece video spends 62 seconds talking about Denmark and just 11 seconds showing the country, an intentional decision VisitDenmark made.

“The build-up of the video was done with specific storytelling supporting our brand, ‘The Land of Everyday Wonder,’ and profiling Denmark as a destination with space and opportunities not experienced in traditional tourist venues,” said Dennis Englund, VisitDenmark’s market director for the U.S. and UK.

“The impact of that narrative is emphasized by showcasing the many opportunities in Denmark at the end of the video as a short answer to the implied questions asked throughout the video.”

Englund added the marketing professionals at VisitDenmark learned about AI’s opportunities and limitations in content creation throughout the process of developing the campaign. Skift examined the potential impact of generative AI — technology that includes the creation of images, audio and video — on travel marketing in a 2023 Travel Megatrend.

“We were amazed by the copy produced by ChatGPT. However, some parts did seem a bit repetitive and superficial, while others were factually incorrect. For this specific campaign, we decided not to change a single word, but under different circumstances, we most certainly would have replaced ‘holiday’ with ‘vacation’ in the Statue of Liberty’s script,” Englund said. 

“We also learned that deep fake technology does not work well when paired with abstract art, so we had to discard the script we had prepared for Edvard Munch’s The Scream and accept that this artwork could only scream — which seemed rather suiting.”