The MOREtime Project
Agency: Geelmuyden Kiese
Client: Finnmark and Nord-Troms
Award: Best use of Social Media: B2C, 2024: Gold
Brief
How do you convince people to move to one of the coldest, most remote places on Earth? That was the challenge we faced in promoting the Arctic regions of Finnmark and Nord-Troms—an area famous for its stunning natural beauty, harsh climate, and, well, Russia as a neighbor. For decades, the government tried everything to stop the population decline: tax breaks, cheaper electricity, free daycare. But apparently, offering money to live where -40°C is considered “a bit chilly” wasn’t quite enough.
So, we needed to think big. Really big. We needed a reason that money simply couldn’t buy.
Solution
Our solution? We didn’t just offer people a place to live; we offered them more time. Knowing that 7 out of 10 Norwegians crave more time in their lives, we seized on a unique truth about the Arctic: here, the pace of life is slower, the landscape more vast, and there’s just generally less happening. Which, when you think about it, means you have more time on your hands. So, we redefined time itself for the region—introducing a revolutionary new time calculation: 26-hour days.
To make this ”extra time” idea real, we teamed up with the mayor of Vadsø, Wenche Pedersen, and demanded the creation of a brand-new time zone for the Arctic, sending an official letter to the European Commission. The boldness of the move was designed to grab attention—and it did. We replaced standard clocks with special 26-hour clocks, symbolizing the promise of ”MOREtime” in the North. Our story, first picked up by Politico, took off like a blizzard in the Arctic. We followed up with a high-impact press kit, complete with mayoral statements, imagery, a promotional video, and plenty of info on why the Arctic was a hidden gem just waiting to be discovered. Then, we unleashed content across social media, native ads showcasing families who had made the move, and targeted campaigns on Snapchat, reaching those who just might be tempted to trade city stress for Arctic calm.
Results
The results? Huge. Our campaign generated over 250 million impressions across more than 200 media outlets, including The Sun, Daily Mail, LADbible, and HuffPost. The story was picked up everywhere—from Norway’s evening news to live radio in Dubai, with Mayor Pedersen herself becoming a global media star. We even had coverage in countries like Turkmenistan, Nigeria, Vietnam, and the USA.
The numbers were equally impressive: web traffic shot up by 1308%, paid media content hit 2.9 million views in Norway alone, and—while it’s too soon to tell if we’ve reversed the population decline—tourism has already surged by 13%.
The MOREtime Project wasn’t just a campaign—it was a revolutionary rebranding of life in the Arctic. By offering not just incentives but the priceless gift of time, we transformed the perception of a region once seen as a frozen outpost into a place where life slows down, and you gain what everyone wants more of: time.