Going South On Primetime TV!

Posted by Fleur on 10 February 2011

The cyclists’ journeys are over, the footage has been edited, the music has been cleared and the first successful run of Going South on Dutch television has been completed. But it doesn’t end there:  currently all 13 episodes of Going South are back on Dutch TV for a second round of airtime!

This time, we’re on primetime: Sunday evenings at 19.30 on Nederland 3. We’re getting an average of 250.000 viewers per week, which is a lot on this channel and in our diverse media landscape.  Many people are taking the time to watch the show and are getting inspired by the journey and by the sustainable projects. We’ve had many responses from enthusiastic viewers, as well as from different sustainable companies: they have great creative ideas related to professionalizing or importing some of the sustainable inventions we feature on the show.

For instance, the PET sun boiler, designed by José Alano from Brazil, caught the eye of a Dutch solar panel company which contacted us with the idea to professionalize the product and export it internationally. Our Argentinean Restbox eco-coffins are also getting attention: a Dutch funeral director approached us with the idea to introduce them to the Dutch market.

Aside from this creative input, we’ve been reaching out to viewers via various multimedia: the Going South website which you are currently visiting, Facebook and also via our Twitter), through which we have been getting a lot of positive responses about the show (#goingsouth). While watching the episodes, many viewers are expressing how much they would like to go on a similar journey, how big of an achievement it was for the cyclists to cycle so far, and how refreshing and original a show such as Going South is.

Well-known Dutch cyclist Robert Gesink is also inspired. He tweeted: “Just watched Going South. I would love to make a trip like that one day!” He’s a prominent Twitter personality with 25,000 followers. Also prominent is Dutch judo world champion Dennis van der Geest (8,000 followers),  who tweeted: #goingsouth: Fun show! Makes you wonder, why am I so busy all the time…a bit of self-reflection is useful sometimes!”

Overall, we’re really excited that Going South is gaining the attention it deserves and that our efforts to promote sustainability, through the creative ways in which this topic is being handled in the America’s, is inspiring others to spread these ideas across the world.

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