A while ago I wrote about tourism campaigns and they were mainly pants.
I also casually mumbled some ideas that I felt would show how much a country can offer, without needing to cram an epileptic-fit-inducing number of montage shots in every 30” ad.
One of them was starting a cable television / Youtube channel that each day, talked in depth about a different element of the country.
The reason I liked it was because I felt it would not only give undeniable evidence that there’s lots to do in that country, but it would allow the culture and values of the place to shine through.
I’m not suggesting this was ground breaking thinking … it probably wasn’t even an original idea … but I’m glad to see the country that – for me – has the best international tourism campaign* had a similar idea, because they’ve recently launched a whole host of mini-movies where musicians [it was done for MTV Australia] explain what they love and why they love particular parts of NZ.
There’s quite a few, but for some reason, this one with Liam Finn [son of Crowded House singer Neil] made the biggest impression on me.
Of course NZ use many channels communicating many things … but they always incorporate 2 elements that I think should form the blueprint of any tourism campaign:
1/ The message is always tailored to the audience [based on a real understanding of why a particular group doesn’t come or doesn’t want to come to NZ]
2/ The tailored message is always expressed through the core brand idea
Sure they’ll run campaigns saying how cheap a flight is or, as was recently the case when they found Brits holidaying to Oz for the ‘trip of a lifetime’ perceived it too far to also consider visiting, how close it is [approx 180 minutes from Sydney] … but they’ll always make sure the idea of PURE is never lost or secondary to the message being communicated.
It might not be the fashion to talk about the importance of brand ideas, but I still think they play a vital role … as long as [1] you live up to it [2] it’s built on values, not just features and [3] you know what to do with it when you’ve got one.
Brands, planners and creatives should take note … and I don’t just mean those representing tourism accounts.
* I know Queensland’s ‘Best Job In The World’ campaign has received all the recent accolades, but as brilliant as that was, it was basically a one-off PR driven promotion whereas NZ’s 100% Pure, is a long-term brand building campaign.