Visit Faroe Islands: Google Sheep View
Visit Faroe Islands and Atlantic Airways tasked Liquidminds with increasing global tourism awareness on a zero media budget. The islands were invisible on Google Street View, hindering discovery by potential travelers. They needed a creative way to put the remote archipelago on the digital map and capture the attention of both the tech giant and global adventurers.
Creative Idea
Mounted 360-degree cameras on sheep to create a DIY version of Google Street View.
To put the Faroe Islands on the map, the tourism board bypassed Google's absence by mounting 360-degree cameras on sheep. This low-tech, high-concept petition turned a lack of infrastructure into a charming global news story that forced Google to respond.
Mapping the World One Sheep at a Time
The Woolly Tech Stack
To bypass Google's absence, the team engineered a custom, non-intrusive harness designed by a local inventor to sit comfortably on the sheep’s woolly backs. The rig utilized Ricoh Theta 360-degree cameras powered by solar panels and connected to mobile phones. As the sheep grazed, photos were captured every minute and transmitted via the Google API to be uploaded directly to Street View. This DIY infrastructure turned the islands' 80,000 sheep - who outnumber the human population of 50,000 - into a mobile mapping fleet.
David vs the Tech Goliath
If There is a Wool There is a Way
The project’s success eventually forced a response from the tech giant. David Castro González de Vega, Google Maps Program Manager, famously remarked, "If there's a wool, there's a way." Google eventually flew a team to the archipelago equipped with the Street View Trekker backpack to complete the mapping. The initiative's legacy lives on through community-led expansions including Horse View, Ship View on local ferries, and even Wheelbarrow View, proving that authentic storytelling can bridge the gap between remote locales and global platforms.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
A remote archipelago with a massive sheep population and a need for global tourism visibility.
Category
Tourism boards usually rely on expensive glossy ads and traditional media to showcase landscapes.
Customer
Modern travelers rely on digital mapping tools to discover and plan trips to remote destinations.
Culture
The digital divide creates a hidden world, making grassroots tech solutions feel authentic and heroic.
Company
A remote archipelago with a massive sheep population and a need for global tourism visibility.
Category
Tourism boards usually rely on expensive glossy ads and traditional media to showcase landscapes.
Strategy:
Leverage a global platform's absence to create a DIY alternative that forces official brand adoption through public pressure.
Customer
Modern travelers rely on digital mapping tools to discover and plan trips to remote destinations.
Culture
The digital divide creates a hidden world, making grassroots tech solutions feel authentic and heroic.
Strategy:
Leverage a global platform's absence to create a DIY alternative that forces official brand adoption through public pressure.
Results
The campaign achieved a reach of over 2,000,000,000, with more than 7,000 news stories and 42,200 webpage mentions. The PR ROI was an impressive +150,000%. Within two weeks of the campaign, most hotels in Torshavn were sold out. The campaign successfully brought Google Street View to the Faroe Islands and captured the attention of the entire world.
2,000,000,000+
Total reach
+150,000%
PR ROI
7,000+
News stories
Strategy Technique
Build an Utility, Not an Ad
Instead of complaining about being ignored, the brand built a DIY version of the missing service. This proactive utility generated massive PR value and made the brand's inclusion inevitable for Google.
Explore Technique
Creative Technique
Unexpected Utility
By turning sheep into mobile mapping units, the campaign created a functional yet absurd alternative to a global service. This utility provided the perfect visual hook to demand Google's official participation.
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
This campaign's craft is exceptional due to its ingenious use of technology and community engagement to solve a real-world problem with zero budget.
The creative use of 360 cameras, solar panels, and Google's API to turn sheep into mapping tools is a brilliant technological execution.
Achieving a reach of over 2 billion with zero media budget through a perfectly timed PR and social media strategy is remarkable.
The synergy between the quirky technological solution and the strategic PR push created a viral sensation that forced a global giant like Google to respond.
