Australia’s tourism is in the doldrums. Its dollar is approaching parity with the greenback, and rising fuel and airline ticket prices are keeping visitors away.
The disastrous A$180 million (US$172 million) ‘So where the bloody hell are you?’ campaign has done little to ease the pain, with its catchphrase now an embarrassing punchline that the country is eager to erase. Just last week Prime Minister Kevin Rudd pilloried the M&C Saatchi campaign, calling it a “rolled gold disaster”. Harsh words, but you would be hard pressed to argue against them.
The disastrous A$180 million (US$172 million) ‘So where the bloody hell are you?’ campaign has done little to ease the pain, with its catchphrase now an embarrassing punchline that the country is eager to erase. Just last week Prime Minister Kevin Rudd pilloried the M&C Saatchi campaign, calling it a “rolled gold disaster”. Harsh words, but you would be hard pressed to argue against them.
Only Lara Bingle, the bikini model featured in the advertising whose career has since taken off, appears to have yielded any significant benefits from the campaign. Indeed, the string of stinging complaints about the ads have pulled in more scathing media coverage globally than any other advertising campaign in recent memory.
Unfortunately, none of the publicity has translated into visitor numbers, and the campaign - now binned - will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
The business has landed under the guard of Omnicom’s DDB and Marty O’Halloran, the agency’s CEO and chairman for Australia and New Zealand. Safe hands indeed.
But is a global tie-in between Tourism Australia and 20th Century Fox to promote Baz Luhrmann’s latest film, Australia, the answer?
Tourism Australia has been quick on the PR offensive, assuring that the film and campaign will deliver an impact to mirror the record tourism draw New Zealand gained after 2001 from the epic The Lord Of The Rings trilogy.
New Zealand’s share of global tourism hit record levels after the country was chosen as the setting for Middle Earth in the Peter Jackson-directed films. The productions are believed to have led to a 22 per cent rise in tourism.
Yes, Tourism Australia’s ‘See the movie, see the country’ initiative, albeit unimaginatively named, is opportunistic and should provide DDB with an appropriate launch platform to mend brand Australia.
The imagery from the film is spectacular. Its sophistication, if nothing else, should shake off the cultural cringe of ‘Where the bloody hell are you?’ and Crocodile Dundee, whose star Paul Hogan fronted an international ad campaign telling tourists he would “put another shrimp on the barbie”. But where are the insight and instinct?
Tourism branding and communication are inherently difficult. They are overseen by Government agencies that are accountable to taxpayers, whose money typically exerts strong influence over the eventual spending. This watchfulness tends to force the use of destinations and activities into every single piece of communication. The democratic process can, sadly, suffocate creativity.
The strategy of using a period love story as the communication vehicle for tourism is appealing. Whether it turns out to be rewarding will initially depend on the film’s ability to generate the right global publicity.
Since Vietnam’s communist Government embraced the policy of doi moi, or economic openness, more than a decade ago, the market has become one of the success stories of the region (see Southeast Asia report).
So, is Vietnam the ‘new China’ as we continuously hear?
It’s all too tempting to liken this burgeoning economy with that of the mainland as it endures the teething troubles that come with rising affluence — whether it’s high inflation or property bubbles.
Yet, at best, this comparison to China only tells part of the story. At worst, it obscures important trends and differences of interest to any marketer intrigued by the future of Southeast Asia’s emerging markets.
