SAGA SHOP - Haust I Fall 2019

90 Icelandair Stopover “We promoted the water like a luxury product, with a craft beer look, logo and font. It was supposed to look like Évian or Perrier, these posh, quality brands, but it’s simply tap water,” says Daníel Oddsson from Promote Iceland of the new Inspired by Iceland campaign: “Kranavatn.” “We figured we would brand it with the Ice- landic word for ‘tap water’ because it sounds interesting, like ‘croissant’,” adds his colleague Sigríður Dögg Guðmundsdóttir. She explains that the campaign has two main goals: first, to raise people’s awareness of the superb drinking quality of the Icelandic tap water, and second, to help minimize waste by dis- couraging visitors to Iceland from buying single-use plastic bottles. Instead, they should bring their own reusable bottles and fill them up with tap water, and to that end, more faucets are being installed in Reykjavík and elsewhere. “When we launched the project in June, we organized tap-water tasting at Keflavík Air- port. People could try water from different sources, like ‘kitchen sink’ or ‘garden hose.’ They tasted the same, of course, but people still thought some tasted better than others,” Daníel laughs. The project has garnered signif- icant attention, with social media influencers (ENVIRONMENTALLY) RESPONSIBLE DRINKING The “Kranavatn” campaign encourages tourists to drink high-quality Icelandic tap water and ditch plastic bottles. sharing the campaign video and Finland starting a similar project for the Finnish tap water. “It’s a collaboration with the Icelandic Environment Agency with support from the Nordic Council of Ministers, so the other Nordic countries can take advantage of it. It’s an open-source project for everyone’s benefit.” The campaign follows a new global survey of 16,000 travelers in 11 markets across Europe, the Nordics and North America, which found that nearly two in three (65%) admitted to consuming more plastic water bottles when abroad than when at home, citing “fear” that tap water abroad is unsafe (70%) and convenience (19%) as the main determining factors. Inspired by Iceland is aiming to raise awareness of Ice- landic tap water as one of the cleanest and best-tasting tap waters in the world—pure glacial water filtered through lava for thousands of years. Unlike in other countries, 98% of Icelandic tap water is chemically untreated, and measurements show that unwanted substances in the water are far below limits, according to the Environmental Agency of Iceland. Anyone who’s planning a trip to Iceland this year can join the Kranavatn challenge online at inspiredbyiceland.com and watch the campaign video. Icelandair is the single largest partner to Inspired by Iceland. The campaign’s first edition was launched by the Icelandic state and private parties to market Iceland as a tourist destination after the eruption in Eyjafjallajökull in 2010. BY EYGLÓ SVALA ARNARSDÓTTIR. PHOTOS COURTESY OF INSPIRED BY ICELAND.