Ogilvy: Deutsche Bahn’s Rediscover Germany

During the summer of 2020 when international travel was banned due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ogilvy in Germany worked with Deutsche Bahn to show travel seekers exotic destinations a little closer to home.

The campaign targeted travel-minded individuals through social media, online displays, Spotify and newsletters, presenting them with numerous possibilities to discover Germany.

Based on the insight that there is a holiday destination for everyone, Ogilvy showed similar looking destinations abroad and at home, highlighting the great variety that Germany has to offer. Then, through targeted visuals, users were shown locations in Germany they could travel to using the Deutsche Bahn rail network.

The ads drove people to a landing page that helped travellers find the right destination for them. The page seamlessly pulled in content from 16 tourism associations to enable users to search for their foreign destination of choice, which then gave them options of similar locations in Germany.

So, those with a preference for South America were able to find places that offered a similar experience in Mecklenburg-Western Pommerania or Cologne. Travellers interested in the Maldives or New Zealand were offered information about similar-looking places in Lower-Saxony.

Following the campaign, Deutsche Bahn became the most popular German brand in the country in 2020 according to Handelsblatt’s ranking. The campaign was also awarded the Grand Prix at the WARC Awards for Effectiveness in the Instant Impact category in 2022.