(Foto: Norges Turistråd)

The Swedes were very receptive of the campaign showing a naked, male skier on his way over the snow covered Norwegian plains. The inscription on the picture is a charming pun on the fact that the man is actually not wearing anything at all except his hat, socks and shoes, and it urges people to ‘come the way you are because Norway is wondrous.’

The campaign received a lot of media attention when it was launched in Sweden this fall, and the number of Swedish tourists in Norway has indeed increased.

“The alpine pictures were dominating, but the naked man got the most PR,” said Andréas Näsman, head of marketing for the Norwegian Tourist Board in Sweden, to Propaganda. “That is just fine by us.”

There is an increasing number of Swedes who spend their vacations in Norway. The Norwegian Tourist Board claims the reason for that is the situation in the world right now and the strong Swedish Krone.

“It is of course difficult to determine the reason, but the exchange rate has made Norway cheaper,” Näsmans said. “Norway is viewed as a great outdoors country. In addition, I think it is the marketing we do is one of the reasons for this.”

The Norwegian Tourist Board measured the last campaigns effect. One forth of the surveyed informed that they had seen the campaign, and one forth of them said that they had become more interested in travelling to Norway after they saw the campaign.