Category: Ads

The hardest karaoke song in the world

Iceland launches a tourism campaign that turns its “notoriously difficult-to-learn” language into a challenge you can sing. The hook is a catchy karaoke track called “The A-Ö of Iceland”, designed to help tourists get to grips with Icelandic by working through the 32 letters of the Icelandic alphabet and pairing them with common words and phrases.

Performed by Icelandic comedian Steindi Jr, the song leans into the joy of trying. It plays with the difference between a torfbær (turf house) and a bílaleigubíll (hire car). It also makes you remember to pack your sundskýla (trunks) for the sundlaugar (swimming pool).

The Iceland tourist board then releases a companion video showing tourists attempting to sing along. The result is exactly what the campaign promises. A playful struggle that makes the language feel less intimidating and the destination feel more human.

The real question is how you turn a language barrier into something people want to try, loudly, in public.

Why this works as tourism marketing

Language is often positioned as a barrier. This flips it into a shared experience. You do not need perfect pronunciation to participate. You just need curiosity and a willingness to try.

Extractable takeaway: When you turn “difficulty” into a shared game, you lower the psychological stakes and make participation feel safe, which makes the destination more memorable.

Karaoke is the format. Participation is the strategy

Karaoke is not just entertainment here. It is a behaviour pattern people already understand. Follow the lyrics. Try to keep up. Laugh at yourself. Share the attempt. This is stronger than a standard “learn a few phrases” explainer because it replaces instruction with participation.

That makes the campaign naturally distributable. Here, “distributable” means the audience can repeat the format themselves, not just watch it once. Because karaoke bakes in imperfect attempts, it normalizes mispronunciation and lowers the intimidation factor, which is why the content travels.

In destination marketing, especially where visitors expect language friction, turning that friction into a low-stakes performance is a reliable way to increase participation.

The pattern to steal

If you want to make a cultural “friction point” feel inviting, the structure is replicable:

  • Choose a real friction point. Pick one authentic challenge the audience expects.
  • Package it as a game. Turn it into a lightweight challenge with a clear beginning and end.
  • Let attempts be the proof. Let the audience generate the proof of participation through their attempts, not through brand claims.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “The A-Ö of Iceland”?

A tourism karaoke song that walks through the 32 letters of the Icelandic alphabet and teaches common words and phrases.

Who performs the song?

Icelandic comedian Steindi Jr.

What is the campaign asking tourists to do?

Try to sing along and, in the process, get more comfortable with Icelandic.

Why include a companion video of tourists trying?

It shows that participation is the point and invites viewers to imagine themselves attempting the song.

What is the core marketing idea?

Turn language difficulty into an enjoyable participation challenge so the destination feels accessible, memorable, and shareable.

A Can Size for Every Aussie

Kraft launches four new sizes of Heinz baked bean cans with a three-minute “life narrative” film. It follows Geoff, a man addicted to beans, and his future wife, whom he meets in the spaghetti department. The story builds to the punchline. Geoff “invents” a range of can sizes that feels perfect for different Australian occasions.

The creative choice is doing a lot of work. It turns something that is normally functional and forgettable. Pack size. Into a character-driven narrative that is easy to watch and easy to remember.

The insight behind the pack strategy

In 2016, Kraft commissions consumer and shopper research to understand how Australians use Heinz beans and spaghetti. The key finding is straightforward. People want ideal can sizes that suit different occasions.

Four sizes is not “more choice” for its own sake. It is a response to a usage reality. One household does not always need the same portion format.

Why a film is the right container for a packaging story

Packaging benefits can sound like rational product copy. This film makes the point emotionally, then lands it practically.

Extractable takeaway: When the product change is useful but easy to ignore, story can turn the format logic into something people can retell.

In FMCG portfolios, format expansion only scales when shoppers can instantly see why each variant exists.

This is the right strategic move because the job is not to announce four SKUs. It is to make each size feel like an intuitive answer to a real usage moment, so the portfolio looks helpful instead of bloated.

The real question is whether the audience immediately understands why more pack formats improve everyday use.

The narrative format also solves a distribution problem. It gives the campaign a reason to be watched and shared even by people who do not currently care about can sizes.

What to steal if you are launching format variants

  • Start with a concrete usage insight, not a portfolio decision.
  • Give the variant story a memorable mental model. Here, “a can size for every occasion.”
  • Use entertainment to earn attention. Then let the product logic feel obvious, not forced.

A few fast answers before you act

What is being launched here?

Four new sizes of Heinz baked bean cans.

What insight drives the launch?

Kraft’s research shows Australians are looking for ideal can sizes to suit different occasions.

How is the launch communicated?

Through a three-minute life narrative film featuring Geoff and his future wife in the spaghetti department.

What is the core marketing technique?

Use story to make a functional packaging benefit feel human, memorable, and worth sharing.

Why not just announce the new sizes directly?

Because the film helps the audience feel the usefulness of the size range, rather than processing it as a dry packaging update.

The Day Shazam Forgot

Alzheimer’s Research UK partners with Shazam and does something deliberately uncomfortable. It gives the app the symptoms of Alzheimer’s. You use Shazam as you normally would, but the experience starts to break in ways that mirror memory loss. It is a hard-hitting way to feel, in a small moment, what daily struggle can look like.

The insight behind the campaign is about who needs to be reached. Most people associate Alzheimer’s with late life, but the disease can affect people as young as 40. The post cites over 40,000 people under 65 living with dementia in the UK.

The point is education through friction

This does not try to persuade with claims or statistics alone. It turns education into a lived interaction. Shazam is familiar and fast. Making it unreliable becomes the message.

The real question is how to make a misunderstood condition felt in a way that stays with people after the interaction ends.

This is a strong use of product behaviour because the disruption teaches rather than distracts. The intent here is public education, not app utility.

Why the Shazam choice is strategic

Shazam already sits in a high-frequency behaviour loop. By behaviour loop, this means a repeated habit people perform in real-life moments with very little effort or planning. That makes it a powerful carrier for a message about everyday disruption, because it arrives inside everyday life rather than as a separate awareness film.

Extractable takeaway: If you want people to understand a condition that is easy to distance or abstract away, place the message inside a familiar action so the disruption explains the reality better than a claim alone.

In consumer-facing digital experiences, familiar habits are often the best place to make a hard message land because the contrast is felt immediately.

What to take from this if you build digital experiences

  • Simulate a small part of the experience, not just the outcome, when the condition itself is hard to explain.
  • Put the message inside a familiar behaviour, so the contrast is instantly felt.
  • Use disruption sparingly and intentionally, so the discomfort has a purpose and does not turn into irritation.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “The Day Shazam Forgot”?

A Shazam partnership campaign that simulates Alzheimer’s symptoms to give users a direct, hard-hitting insight into memory loss.

Who is the campaign trying to educate?

A younger audience that may assume Alzheimer’s only affects people in late life.

What key fact reframes the audience assumption?

The disease can affect people as young as 40. The post cites over 40,000 people under 65 living with dementia in the UK.

What is the core creative technique?

Turning a familiar app experience into a controlled failure state, so the message is felt rather than only read.

Why use Shazam instead of a separate awareness film?

Because Shazam already lives inside everyday moments, the disruption arrives where memory lapses would feel personally relevant rather than abstract.