I love the new Walkabout Tourism Australia Ads - it comes a long way from the old Hoges 1984 "Shrimp on the Bar-bie" and the "where the bloody hell are ya" campaigns (see playlist) - not that there is anything wrong with the classic standard shots of our beautiful beaches, outback sunsets, Sydney Harbour and kangaroos.
This campaign is strong on the emotional tie-ins; the busy lives we live and the need to take a break and find our true selves again, to focus on who we are and what we truly enjoy - not so much an escape but a reawakening.
The production quality is second to none - good on yah Baz and Bruce! (sorry- great Aussie blokes names there brother!)
Interestingly this could just easily watch this in a wide screen cinema as on the TV or via the web. In just a day Youtube is up to 15,000 plays.
We will be watching to see how this flows through not only the gates at the airport but the overall Australian level of service we provide. As we have said before, the business battleground for the future is increasingly going to be around creativity, innovation, customer engagement/ customacy.
Some of the Campaign facts
CAMPAIGN FACTS
- The Australian writer, producer and director Baz Luhrmann, and his Bazmark production team, have produced a special destination campaign for Tourism Australia.
- The two campaign cinema/TV spots were conceived by Baz Luhrmann and his team and directed by Bruce Hunt, four-time Director of the Year in Australia for his commercial work. They were produced by Bazmark in association with award winning commercials Production company Revolver.
- The two spots feature an all Australian cast and were shot on location in north Western Australia and on sound stages at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney. As an extension to the Bazmark TV/cinema campaign, print and online ads were produced by DDB Worldwide. There are eleven different print versions – shot in every state and territory.
- The campaign will run in all Tourism Australia’s major markets around the world from October 2008 until mid 2009.
- It is a special campaign that’s being made to take advantage of a special opportunity and to address the difficult times that tourism faces globally.
- Tourism Australia’s objective from this campaign is that it will ensure Australia reaches its forecast growth rate of 3.2 per cent in international arrivals in 2009 and halts the predicated decline in domestic travel within Australia.
- The campaign was conceived by Luhrmann to be completely stand-alone however Tourism Australia has also entered into a promotional partnership with Twentieth Century Fox to leverage Baz Luhrmann’s new epic film Australia, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.
- Combined, these two projects represent the bulk, but not the whole, of Tourism Australia’s marketing for 2008/09.
- Tourism Australia is investing around $40 million in the ad campaign and around $10 million on promotional opportunities around the movie.
- Tourism Australia will develop a more long-term campaign for release in mid to late 2009. This will be developed by its agency DDB Worldwide.
