Neol Santillan, a 28 year old New Jersey man who found international fame after getting spectacularly lost while searching for a downtown Reykjavík hotel, ending up in a small fishing village in North Iceland, stars in a new advertisement by the Siglufjörður hotel where he ended up staying his first night in Iceland. The advertisement attempts to cash in on Santillan’s misadventures, urging other travellers to follow in his footsteps and visit Siglufjörður.
Read more: I did enjoy the scenery on the way, says American traveller who wound up at wrong Laugavegur street
The local news site visir.is points out that the advertisement raises the question whether Noel’s adventures were just an elaborate publicity stunt. Finnur Yngvi Kristinsson, the head of marketing for Hótel Sigló, which took Noel in during his stay in Siglufjörður, told the local news site visir.is that this was not the case: “No, no. It wasn’t staged. If that had been the case it would have to rank among the most successful marketing campaigns of all times.”
The scenes in the advertisement which feature Noel were filmed after he returned back to Reykjavík, Finnur explained.
Finnur hopes that the fame of Neol, as well as the TV series Trapped, which are filmed in Siglufjörður, will help put the town of Siglufjörður on the map and convince other travellers to visit the town.
Neol Santillan, a 28 year old New Jersey man who found international fame after getting spectacularly lost while searching for a downtown Reykjavík hotel, ending up in a small fishing village in North Iceland, stars in a new advertisement by the Siglufjörður hotel where he ended up staying his first night in Iceland. The advertisement attempts to cash in on Santillan’s misadventures, urging other travellers to follow in his footsteps and visit Siglufjörður.
Read more: I did enjoy the scenery on the way, says American traveller who wound up at wrong Laugavegur street
The local news site visir.is points out that the advertisement raises the question whether Noel’s adventures were just an elaborate publicity stunt. Finnur Yngvi Kristinsson, the head of marketing for Hótel Sigló, which took Noel in during his stay in Siglufjörður, told the local news site visir.is that this was not the case: “No, no. It wasn’t staged. If that had been the case it would have to rank among the most successful marketing campaigns of all times.”
The scenes in the advertisement which feature Noel were filmed after he returned back to Reykjavík, Finnur explained.
Finnur hopes that the fame of Neol, as well as the TV series Trapped, which are filmed in Siglufjörður, will help put the town of Siglufjörður on the map and convince other travellers to visit the town.
