Detour de France (eng)

Awareness and interest in the Tour de France is huge - and not just among cycling enthusiasts. The race is shown in 190 countries and millions of viewers see the images of the landscape and cities every day as the cameras follow the riders. Therefore, it was an obvious choice to use this giant event to tell the story of Denmark.

With our campaign concept "Detour de France", we wanted to show how difficult it is to stay on the planned route with all that Denmark has to offer - even as a professional cyclist participating in the Tour de France. The campaign was built around a series of videos showing how the riders, one by one, are led astray by good food, beautiful landscapes, exciting architecture and cultural history.

The campaign was based 100% on video, and the aim was to use the event as a hook to get the message across to as many potential visitors as possible. The focal point of the campaign was the "Detour de France" video, which was shown on TV in Germany and the Netherlands, as well as on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram in the UK, France, Italy and the Netherlands.

The HERO video was followed by five local videos showing some of the best Local Detours in the five destinations that were part of the three stages in Denmark. Watch all videos here.

The campaign consisted of a wide range of efforts that together formed a common narrative that began when the route was announced in October 2021 and lasted until the riders crossed the finish line in Paris in July 2022 - with an ending perfectly suitable for a fairytale: A Danish winner on the podium! Alongside the campaign, we ran a press effort with several press visits and hundreds of articles as a result, a consideration effort where we strengthened our SEM efforts and picked up on the increased search interest generated from the Tour start in Denmark and finally, we dressed our organic SoMe efforts in yellow in the month leading up to the start of the Tour.

In collaboration with Grand Départ Copenhagen Denmark and the involved destinations, we also managed the local press centers and villages in all the Danish start and finish cities.

Campaign period: October 2021 - July 2022

Target group: Adult couples and friends

Markets: Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, France and The UK

Partners: Grand Départ Copenhagen Denmark, Wonderful Copenhagen, Destination Fjordlandet, Destination Fyn, VisitVejle and Destination Sønderjylland