‘Is It Even a City’? Asks VisitOSLO with Dry, Irreverent Charm
A typical travel ad goes something like this: highly saturated images flood the screen set to a soundtrack that oscillates between lightly sweet to sickeningly saccharine tones; a traveller - though more usually a couple of a family - ‘discover’ the destination with big grins on their faces; and the viewer is then supposedly inspired to book a ticket to the destination, pronto.
‘Is It Even a City?’, directed by NewsLab AS’s August Jorfald, takes a very different approach. Inspired by Norwegian filmmakers Joachim Trier and Kristoffer Borgli, the spot follows a disaffected protagonist, Halfdan, as he unenthusiastically strolls through Oslo’s sights and attractions. It’s a subtle and irreverent spot, more indie film than ad campaign, soundtracked by the city’s diegetic sounds and lit by the sun shifting through the day. August tells LBB that “it was all quite intuitive” though the NewsLab AS team did use some data and insights from VisitOSLO to reach the intended target audience. And the message for the audience is “I wouldn't come here, to be honest," spoken by Halfdan, delivered with bafflement, that reads firmly tongue-in-cheek to those watching.
Halfdan’s derision of Oslo made quite the impact online. “This is one of our most engaging campaigns, reaching a million organic views within its first few days,” says Anne-Signe Fagereng, marketing manager at VisitOSLO. It was a bit of a risk for VisitOSLO, but one that more than paid off as the campaign quickly amassed over 15 million organic views across social media platforms and was covered by national and international press. “Using humour in an international campaign is never completely risk-free. Fortunately, we have received an enormous amount of positive interest after just one weekend,” says Anne-Signe.
The idea for the campaign came directly from August’s personal experience of travelling in Paris. “I was so concerned about 'not being a tourist' that, among other things, I insisted on not seeing the Eiffel Tower. On the plane home, I saw myself from the outside, and felt like a jerk. This was the first taste of what was to become the Halfdan character: a well-informed vagabond who is too cool for all kinds of tourism, and way too cool for his hometown,” says August.
LBB spoke to August to learn more about the campaign, finding and casting the perfect ‘Halfdan’, and why “people are tired of seeing extremely happy people talking about how great everything is all the time.”
LBB> What kind of brief did VisitOSLO come to you with? What were your initial thoughts?
August> VisitOSLO wanted a different approach and they contacted NewsLab because of an idea we had pitched earlier. So our initial thoughts were: great! And then we had a meeting where we shared our thoughts and showed our inspirations, tweaked the idea and then I wrote the script and they liked it.
LBB> Was there any direction on what this spot definitely shouldn’t be like, for example: bright and glamorous?
August> We never thought too much of how it shouldn’t be. The main focus was to make something we thought was funny, while getting the message (you should come to Oslo) across to as many people as possible.
LBB> Were there any insights or data that helped shape your response to the brief?
August> To be honest, this wasn't a major campaign in terms of process, it was all quite intuitive. However, VisitOSLO possesses extensive data on their typical target groups and their interests, such as food and culture, which we utilised.
LBB> The spot’s tone is dry, irreverent, and humorous. Why did this feel like the right direction to take the spot in?
August> I think I’m the wrong person to ask this. I have a tendency to try for something funny when asked to pitch something.
LBB> How did you ensure that the humour travelled across borders and was understandable to different audiences while saying culturally specific too?
August> We definitely didn’t have any way of ensuring that the humour travelled across borders. First of all we made something we thought was funny ourselves. But I think one of the reasons a lot of people found it funny was because we are “making fun of ourselves”, in some sense. I think it would be less likeable if the main character was from another country and made fun of / trash talked Oslo. Halfdan is obviously wrong and in some sense we feel a bit sorry for him.
LBB> The spot’s protagonist is wonderfully disaffected. What was the casting process like? How did you know you’d found the right actor?
August> I showed my friend a great Humornieu-sketch from 2017 called “Hjelp, jeg er kryptomilliardær” (“Help, I’m a crypto-billionaire”) in which Bendik plays, and I realised he would be absolutely perfect for this role. He just has this wonderful face that you don’t know if you want to punch or kiss. Probably both.
LBB> Many of the shots look inspired by and referencing the 2021 film, ‘The Worst Person in the World’, directed by Joachim Trier. What was behind this decision?
August> Joachim Trier made Oslo the most beautiful city in the world in all his three films from the Oslo-trilogy, including ‘The Worst Person in the World’. So that was the most obvious inspiration for us, when we needed Oslo to look at its best.
LBB> What was the production process like to create a feeling of an indie/art film for the spot?
August> We were a very light crew. Just four people driving around Oslo across two days, to get the best morning light on some locations and the best evening light on others. The mockumentary format, leaning on a lot of voice over, is also something that makes it easier to shoot on a lot of different locations in a short period of time. This format was something we were very inspired by Kristoffer Borgli and Make Lemonade’s commercial ‘Scandinavian Week’ from 2014.
LBB> The spot went quite viral online. Why do you think it resonated with viewers so much?
August> Hard to say. But I think a lot of people are tired of seeing extremely happy people talking about how great everything is all the time. At least I am.
BTS from the production
LBB> Did you run into any challenges while working on the campaign? How did you overcome them?
August> The most important thing for VisitOSLO was that Oslo needed to look so good and enticing that everyone disagreed with Halfdan. Obviously. At one point in the editing, we had included a few more shots from the early morning hours on a Sunday in Oslo, which means: beautiful light, but very few people. These were eventually cut to make sure the city didn’t look empty. I wouldn’t say this was a challenge, but we went a bit back and forth with some pictures before landing on the final edit.
LBB> What was your favourite part of working on the campaign?
August> Walking around the city on a nice summer day, watching the beautiful pictures cinematographer Adam kept on producing of Bendik’s careless face, while Oslo looked as good as it always does.
