Destination BrandWatch: There's Nothing like Australia

Four years since the Australian Government unveiled the controversial and quirky ''So Where The Bloody Hell Are You?'' campaign  (2006) which was criticized as confusing and offensive &  two years (2008) after the Baz Luhrmann-directed Come Walkabout campaign in 2008, which was not as successful as expected as it was released during the global financial crisis, Tourism Australia finally revealed its latest campaign with the tagline There’s nothing like Australia.

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'So Where The Bloody Hell Are You (2006)

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Come Walkabout (2008)

The new campaign, was developed in two phases. In April and May, Australians were invited to share their personal stories of where they live and holiday in Australia, to show the world why they should visit. Australians proved their enthusiasm for promoting their country by uploading nearly 30,000 stories and images to www.nothinglikeaustralia.com – making it one of Australia's most successful consumer-generated promotions ever.

The tourism body has launched a call for entries via promotions on the Nine Network with personalities including Bert Newton, Catriona Rowntree, Janey Seal and Jason Dundas. The campaign is also being promoted on Today and Getaway. Online activity includes video, banner ads, sponsorships and wraps across News Digital Media, and Ninemsn and its partner sites including Grazia and Gourmet Traveller. There is also newspaper advertising and social media activity through Twitterand Facebook.

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The campaign was even brand-jacked by the Tourism New Zealand on a social media April Fool’s Day joke  through the establishment of a Twitter account, NothinglikeAus, a similarly named Flickr account and a Facebook page called Nothing like Australia…Welcome to New Zealand with the joking message “love from your friendly neighbours, New Zealand.” However, Tourism Australia said it thought the website was funny and did not take any legal action.

The second phase of the campaign has been announced today at the Australian Tourism Exchange .  Tourism Australia will use all the entries to create an interactive map of Australia, made up of all the things Australians think are special about their country. It will be searchable by experience type, location, and by 1,000 keywords. That map will be housed onwww.australia.com, which attracts more than a million unique visitors each month, and also at www.nothinglikeaustralia.com.

Tourism Australia's managing director, Andrew McEvoy, stated earlier today: "I personally love it. I think it gets the toe tapping. I think it gets into your head and it's a bit anthemic," he said. "I think Australians will love it because it is a fresh, friendly approach to tourism advertising." Tourism Australia is calling it a back to basics approach that differs from previous campaigns, which have failed to appeal to audiences. The site will be launched  internationally along with the There’s nothing like Australia video piece suitable for broadcast in cinemas, television and online. Tourism Australia will also choose a number of the best entries from Australians, in phase one of the campaign, to be used in online and print advertising globally.

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There’s nothing like Australia (2010)

The new ad will go to air in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, China, Japan and Germany.

The first on-line critical comments have already appeared saying that the ad is “embarrassing’’, “tacky” and “cheesy’ while some others feel nostalgic for Paul Hogan's successful campaign even if he last appeared in that ad nearly two decades ago.

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Paul Hogan ad (1984)

To my perspective, the Come Walkabout campaign was probably the best tourism campaign Tourism Australia did during the last ten years. This was a masterpiece of emotional marketing with excellent positioning of the destination to its major target markets. The new campaign seems promising,  it is much more well-supported through digital marketing & off-line applications and it has managed to engage domestic audience throughout the concept development process. However, the key message of the campaign sounds a bit weak and gives you the feeling that something is missing there. In any case time will be the  judge.