#karen26 – the birth or breakdown?

I`m about to decide whether the Danish Viral Movie for VisitDenmark is a stroke of genius or something less positive?

Since it was seeded there has been a heavy debate. Discussions concerns whether it is OK to spread a commercial message about Denmark and cover it in an emotional skin. The content in the video centers on the girl karen26, that pretends to have given birth to August – and now she is on the search for the dad. #karen26 why didn´t you Google or Wiki him?

Apparently it was a one-night stand with a foreign guy she met in Nyhavn that left her pregnant. The video is supported by a low quality website. The quality of the website reveals that the advertiser could be in it for commercial reasons. All blogging platforms are easy to manage and design, so this obvious horrible design was a sign. Back to the case. Pressure from people, media and politicians made VisitDenmark react. They have taken the consequence of all the commotion by removing it from YouTube. Like we´ve seen many times before it is difficult to erase the footprints from the Internet. People have created all kinds of spoofs. The message keeps on living...

I have to be honest. When I first got hold on this video I thought the intention wasn´t commercial. Thumbs up for a well-produced piece of viral content. My second thought was that it was Sundhedsstyrelsen that was behind the campaign promoting safe sex.

After it started to air on YouTube Social Media natives started to investigate whom the advertiser could be. Again, getting the Social Media natives is necessary for making a viral campaign a success. So check! The media took it. The common people took it. The phasing worked very well. All the ingredients were there to make this a success. Unfortunately the message in the video didn’t link to what VisitDenmark wanted to communicate. VisitDenmark wanted to communicate Denmark as a free country. It isn´t the message I took out of the video.

But again....

The target group is tourists and I´m just a skeptic Dane. I´m wondering if the real target group´s view on Denmark as a visiting country has changed? Or if this has generated valuable PR on Denmark, which in the end will result in increased tourism? How has the buzz been responded to in the foreign countries? I believe it will have a positive effect and that people can separate fun from reality.

I want to give my applause to VisitDenmark for daring to use viral marketing as marketing tool. When you implement viral marketing it will always be an experiment. There are no shortcuts for success, you have to be brave and dare to do something non-proved, with the risk for failure. I prefer the risky strategy rather than the typical modest campaign. In sum, it has changed and energized my view on VisitDenmark as the dusty and old school organization, and I believe it will drive real-time and real-life traffic to Denmark.