TOURISM AUSTRALIA LAUNCHES LUHRMANN’S TRANSFORMATION TOURISM CAMPAIGN

Tourism Australia and the internationally renowned film-maker Baz Luhrmann and his team have created a new sophisticated destination campaign to make Australia the ‘must visit’ destination for travellers around the world.

Tourism Australia Managing Director Geoff Buckley said the unique opportunity created by the production of Luhrmann’s epic film Australia was one the organisation could not let pass.

“We knew that this huge film would create a wave of publicity that would put the country in the spotlight around the globe,” he said. “And we found that the film’s story had a remarkable resonance for what we do marketing the country as a travel destination.

“The challenge was always going to be how to ride the power of the film, but with a stand- alone and self-reliant tourism campaign. Getting Baz Luhrmann and his team on board to make that campaign was simply the best result we could hope for.”

Nick Baker, Executive General Manager Marketing for Tourism Australia said the campaign was unlike any other tourism campaign. “It’s cinematic in style, is based on a story with a beginning, middle and end, is sophisticated and highly emotive,” he said. “It is not the traditional slide-show of pretty pictures of places and people.

“The idea stems from Baz’s film, which tells the story of Nicole Kidman’s character, Lady Sarah Ashley, who has lost her sense of self but who finds adventure, romance and her trueself when she comes to Australia.

“We’ve made that core storyline into two short-film-like stories of contemporary people whoare stressed and disconnected from their loved ones and their true selves, and who find their centre and their release in Australia.”

Mr Baker said the term ‘walkabout’ had been adopted in the campaign as a uniquely Australian way of describing what holidays should be – a time of release, joy, discovery and reconnection with our loved ones and our real selves.

“Walkabout also enabled us to bring our Indigenous culture into the heart of the story, with the young Aboriginal actor, Brandon Walters who features in the film Australia, inviting our potential travellers to come ‘Walkabout’ in Australia.”

Mr Buckley said the campaign would run in all of Tourism Australia’s 22 major markets aroundthe world from October 2008 until mid 2009. The campaign will run in cinema, television, print and online, commencing in the UK on 8 October.

The success of the campaign will be measured through Tourism Australia’s brand tracking research, through responses to the call to action of www.australia.com and through more specific responses to those instances where the campaign runs cooperatively with a direct product offering.

Website: www.australia.com