How do you promote a destination where there's nothing to see? 

Travel is a visually driven category, defined by sight-seeing and Instagram moments. Compared to Norwegian fjords, Icelandic volcanoes and other epic nature destinations, Sweden’s nature is quite… boring. 

To attract today’s travellers, who crave something unique, we had to out-drama competition on completely new terms. 

Brief: 

Make Sweden’s nature interesting and famous among international travelers (focus US & UK) to help grow Swedish tourism – with an extremely limited budget. 

Brand objectives: 

-Increase destination awareness. 

-Increase positive perception. 

-Increase intention to travel. 

Campaign objectives: 

-Earn global attention 

-Create engagement 

Media insight: 

Audio is booming, appreciated for its intimate, immersive storytelling and visual relief. Non-visual senses like sound profoundly impact our experiences, but are rarely used to promote destinations. 

36% of daily media consumption is audio (Statista, 2020) 

66% crave escape from visual stimulation (Spotify, 2022) 

There’s more to experiencing a place than meets the eye. Sometimes the most intriguing experiences aren’t based on what you see, but what you don’t.

Spellbound is the world’s first travel experience that attracts tourists by scaring them off, using audio to unlock new dimensions of traveling. While most destinations showcase beautiful views, Sweden tuned into a zeitgeist of mysticism and brought its’ mythology-steeped nature to life in a haunting audio-experience.

Co-created with iconic horror-writer John Ajvide Lindqvist, the audio delves travelers into local myths that make Sweden special – reclaiming some of the mythical creatures made famous by the entertainment industry. By geo-locking it to Sweden’s forests, it lures visitors and media onto an eerie journey, deep into the unknown.

In a time of visual overload, Spellbound leverages the booming audio media’s storytelling powers to offer an intimate and immersive experience of a place – even its darker sides.

There’s not much to see in Sweden’s nature. But sometimes the most intriguing experiences are not based on what you see – but what you don’t.

While Sweden’s nature might not look exciting, it echoes with spine-chilling stories of supernatural experiences and mythical creatures – stories with a cultural moment that could break Sweden into culture beyond traditional travel contexts.

Fantasy and horror dominate entertainment. Astrology, tarot and crystals are taking over internet communities. We decided to ride the dark wave and unveil Sweden’s hidden drama in a haunting travel experience.

We partnered with iconic horror-writer John Ajvide Lindqvist for authenticity, using audio for its power to bring the unseen to life. A geo-lock feature became a hook for global media to visit Sweden.

This broke every rule of destination marketing:

-Audio instead of images

-Unknown instead of the known

-Attraction by fear instead of beautiful scenery

The haunting audio experience was created in partnership with iconic horror-writer John Ajvide Lindqvist, available on Spotify – exclusively in Sweden, restricted through a geo-lock. 

The campaign launched with a video and audio teaser during Halloween. But just as you need to go to the cinema to see the whole movie, curious travelers had to visit Sweden to get the full experience. Global media were invited too. 

The campaign was mainly PR-driven, with minimal media budget. To amplify reach beyond travel, we targeted lifestyle, entertainment, tech and news media with different angles. 

A limited number of video and audio-ads ran on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Spotify and Soundcloud, plus a Vice.com advertorial. 

On visitsweden.com/spellbound-by-sweden, tourists could discover the best spots to experience the audio-adventure and learn about the myths and mystery of the Swedish woods. 

The geo-restriction was a PR hook for the launch 2022. The full audio released April 2023. 

Spellbound earned global attention and record high engagement. The simple but unexpected tech-solution – geo-locking the audio – became a hook for media and got some of the world’s biggest outlets to amplify the message, even sending reporters to Sweden for a first-hand-experience. The content had extremely high engagement, scoring way above benchmark – especially the in-depth content on the website, which had up to 10 minutes reading time in some markets. Riding on the dark wave in culture clearly resonated with our target. 

It got the tourism industry engaged too, who added their own mystical sites to the program. The concept provided rich ground for new travel experience ideas and was turned into a business development platform. 

Brand 

-Destination awareness +16% 

-Culturally rich destination: +14% 

-Intention to travel: +5% 

Campaign: 

-Earned reach: 1.3 BN across 34 countries 

-Audio completion rate: 98% 

-Engagement rate on campaign site: +144 above benchmark.