Destination BC has launched ‘The Great Wilderness Car Wash’ in Hamburg, Germany via Zulu Alpha Kilo. Meeting Germans where they are – with their love for cars – an immersive car wash activation gives users a feel for the destination.
Strict regulations in Germany prohibit washing cars at home to protect rivers from runoff, making car washes a necessity. The setting of the car wash offered an opportunity to immerse travellers in an escape from everyday life in Northern BC’s wilderness.
Working with production company Unit9, the activation transformed a car wash into an immersive journey through the Northern BC wilderness, combining precision engineering with advanced sensory technology, including 3D projections and high-definition visuals.
“We are entering a very exciting and important time for tourism in British Columbia,” Maya Lange, vice president, global marketing of Destination BC said.
“By creating unique place brands such as The Great Wilderness for Northern BC, we are giving global travellers a clear idea of the beauty of the various parts of the province such as Northern BC. This activation ignites an awe-inspiring wonder of the power of nature that stays with you. We are deeply grateful to all tourism partners, including Indigenous Tourism BC, and Zulu Alpha Kilo for their collaboration with us on this exciting initiative”.
Inside the car wash, 3D renderings and high-definition imagery brought BC’s rugged beauty to life, drawing in elements of Indigenous cultural symbols and stories. As cars were coated with soap, a kinetic projection screen replicated the lighting effect of the Northern Lights on the windshield, while rotary brushes, designed to mimic towering evergreens, moved in harmony with the landscape visuals. A rainforest-inspired downpour rinsed the car, mirroring the intensity of BC’s iconic storms, before the cars were dried in a volcanic wind area made to look and feel like a desert, completing the sensory journey.
The five-day activation was supported with radio promotional content, digital video drivers, along with OOH placements in major urban centres in Germany.
“We are incredibly excited by this accomplishment and what it means for Destination BC. It took the collaborative efforts of our Vancouver and New York offices to create a one-of-a-kind immersive car wash. We needed to ensure the experience felt authentic and true to Northern BC. So, we made sure that every inch of the car wash and every creative touch point was thought through to deliver a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Tim Gordon, chief creative officer of Zulu Alpha Kilo said.
In 2023, Destination BC unveiled its Invest in Iconics Strategy as a long-term strategy to responsibly increase the benefits of tourism throughout British Columbia through the integration of place branding and destination development to competitively differentiate BC on the world stage. This marks the second global activation that Destination BC launched after introducing the Rainforest to Rockies route from Vancouver to the Rocky Mountains earlier this year.
In 2025, Destination BC will launch all six iconic routes and places under a global Super, Natural British Columbia campaign.
