Story By: Michael Leidig, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
Using a beautiful model to draw attention to a tourist hotspot is nothing new, but it has suddenly become very difficult because of the coronavirus lockdown.
But tourism officials in Holland have managed to get round that, and scored a viral hit at the same time by using a cow.
The so-called “cowfluencer” is a black and white Friesian cow called Liesje22 who is being moved to some of the most interesting attractions ranging from windmills through to stately homes and even a funfair in order to promote the Dutch region of Twente.
Local tourism officials had been looking for a way to promote the region after their access to trendy boys and good-looking girls was suddenly cut off because of the lockdown and social distancing.
But then they hit on the idea of using a cow, which is not covered by the same rules.
Quirine ter Haar who runs the Visit Twent platform said: “Where the whole world is in lockdown, you can see in more and more places that animals are taking over the city.
“Where we normally get influencers to visit the region, we now have a special program for an animal.”
Naturally not just any cow was suitable, and eventually after staging a cow beauty contest, they selected Liesje, 22, who is a five year old Friesian who is expecting her fourth calf and belongs to the local Knoef family.
She was filmed in Hertme, a small village in the region of Twente in the province of Overijssel near the German border, where she visited an open air theatre. The site includes some renovated ruins and a stage has been put in front of it.
She also she visited Waarbeek, a theme park, and Sallandse Heuvelrug which is a national park. The old mill in Rijssen also proved a good location for pictures.
Dutchman Ben Knoef, 27, who runs the family farm with his dad Jos says being on the moove was nothing new for their new super star.
He said: “Liesje has already been to cattle shows and had to take part in inspections, says she is used to going on fun outings.”
“Liesje was the perfect choice out of the four finalist cows. She listened well, and really enjoyed herself. She was the perfect model for this job.
“I was amazed that she manages to look so thoughtfully into the camera and really focuses on it. With a cow you can clearly tell whether they are happy and not, and she was clearly enjoying herself. Throughout all the photo sessions she was curious and calm, it was really fun to watch.”
The pictures were shared on Instagram and almost from the first moment added a thousand new followers, which when the site had only 5000 was a big jump. There are also 31,000 people following the Facebook account with the pictures notching up 1.3 million views.
Ben added: “I especially hope that people come back to Twente after the corona crisis. It is advertising for the most beautiful part of the Netherlands and really pleased that we could contribute to that. I am also positively surprised by the interest it causes.”
He also said that Liesje would be available for more modelling assignments on request.
