The One Show
The One Show is the world's most prestigious award show in advertising and design. For over 50 years, the Gold Pencil has been regarded as one of the top prizes in the creative industry. The One Show has a rich legacy of honoring some of the most groundbreaking ideas, created by some of the most remarkable minds in creativity.
Category
Stunts & Activations
Annual ID
OS23_SM008G
About the Work
How many emails have you gotten today? And of those emails, how many were annoying?
Now imagine how much more annoying those messages would be if you were on vacation. Because now that we can work from anywhere, email follows us everywhere. In fact, 55% of people check their work email on holiday.
So in spring 2022, Visit Iceland devised an incredibly innovative solution to this very stupid modern problem: OutHorse Your Email. A revolutionary service where Icelandic horses write real out-of-office email replies by walking on a giant keyboard.
So travelers could relax in Iceland’s geothermal lagoons uninterrupted, knowing very professional horses were replying to their inconsiderate bosses with messages like:
‘’’’Bdqtde’d+pi
And:
fþbuerggæmhyrojukl.u,.,i-;’[=’’/=\[]p
See? They know all the office lingo.
Vacationers simply had to go to OutHorseYourEmail.com, select their favorite Icelandic horse, and get their corporate gobbledygook straight from the horses’ real hooves.
The service was promoted via a launch video and social campaign. And a behind-the-scenes video showed exactly how we built a functional, horse-sized keyboard and proved that the horses were actually typing and not slacking off.
OutHorse Your Email earned 3.7 billion impressions with $6.8 million in earned media and 100% positive press sentiment. Leading to a 16.8% increase in travel intent in the US. And over 21K OutHorsed emails sent. And best of all, 391K tourists flew into Iceland’s Keflavík Airport in Q2/2022—the busiest quarter since 2019.
And to our knowledge, despite the horses answering their critical work emails, none of those people got fired. So job well done!
2023 Awards
Total Points: 45
Gold Pencil
Credits
Agency
SS+K / New York
Peel / Reykjavik
PR / Marketing Agency
M&C Saatchi Talk / London
Production Company
Republik / Reykjavik
Director
Reynir Lyngdal
Director of Photography
Vidir Sigurdsson
Editor
Gudni Halldorsson
Executive Creative Director
Stevie Archer
Account Director
Kayleigh Ross
Account Supervisor
Erica Amadio
Associate Director
Laura Jones
Project Manager
Gudlaug Jokulsdottir
Strategy Director
Elena Claro
1st Assistant Camera
Eirikur K Juliusson
Account Manager
Sam Sparks
Associate Creative Director - Art Director
Benita Antony
Associate Creative Director - Writer
Rick Morrison
Behind the Scenes Video Lead
Addi Atlondres
CEO
Jane Boardman
Petur Oskarsson
Co-Founder + Partner
Egill Thordarson
Magnus Magnusson
Co-Founder + Partner:
Lenny Stern
Costume
Elma Lisa Gunnarsdottir
Design
Erna Gunnarsdottir
Director, Marketing Communications
Sveinn Birkir Björnsson
Director, Trade & Invest
Karl Gudmundsson
Equipment Rental
Kukl
FVX & Grade
Luis Asciano
GAFFER
John Ingi Matta
Graphic Animation
Steinthor Jenni Sigurdsson
Hair & Makeup
Ragna Fossberg
Head of Consumer
Steve Kirk
Head of Consumer Marketing
Dadi Gudjonsson
Head of PR
Lea Gestsdottir Gayet
Head of Visit Iceland
Sigridur Dogg Gudmundsdottir
Keyboard Build
Ari Birgir Agustsson
Keyboard Technology
Hreinn Beck
Manager, Trade & Invest / “Horse Expert”
Jelena Ohm
Managing Director, Head of Client Services
Amy Frisch
Managing Director, Production + Operations
John Swartz
Managing Director, Strategy Group
Kevin Skobac
Music
Veigar Margeirsson
Production Assistant
Hogna Jonsdottir
Programming
Jon Gabriel Lorange
Project Manager, Marketing Communications
Daníel Oddsson
Una Hildardottir
Project Manager, Social Media
Isak Kari Karason
Katarzyna Mariaa Dygul
Senior Associate Director
Lauren Hunt-Morgan
Sound Mix
Johannes B Bjarnason
Talent Agency
Modurskipid Talent Agency / Reykjavik
VO Artist
Olafur Darri Olafsson
Website
Juni
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