Tourism NT will continue to ensure the NT remains distinctive and appealing through our 2012 campaign activity while working with industry to secure more opportunities to showcase great offers and experiences, driving urgency to travel to the NT.
2012
Virgin Australia Cooperative Marketing Activity
On 2 April 2012 Virgin Australia launched their new daily flights from Sydney to Darwin, offering an extra 1000 seats a week into the Northern Territory.
To promote this new service Tourism NT have collaborated with the team at Virgin to develop an exciting 'Darwin just got closer'' launch campaign.
This fully integrated campaign commenced on 2 April and will be in market until the end of May.
Activity includes advertisements in popular newspapers and magazines, outdoor ads on billboards and bus shelters across Sydney CBD and at the Sydney Airport, and online advertising as well as some exciting experiential advertising.
Experiential activity will emphasise the campaign message that Darwin just got closer by transforming bus shelters into tropical paradises and installing a cascading waterfall at Westfield, Pitt Street, promoting Darwin and the new Virgin Australia flights.
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Darwin Campaign
Coinciding with the Virgin Australia marketing partnership activities, Tourism NT will launch its Darwin campaign on the 22 April 2012.
The campaign will continue to leverage Lonely Planet’s endorsement of Darwin as a top 10 city in the world to travel during 2012. It will feature five new videos and photos that highlight Darwin’s amazing sunsets, croc spotting opportunities, Litchfield National Park, Deckchair cinema, local markets, the waterfront precinct and Darwin’s rich heritage including the new Defence of Darwin experience.
To further complement this campaign, tourism operators have partnered with us to leverage activity and drive bookings through their own websites to enticing travel deals.
The online advertisements will promote our partner’s travel deals, and include direct links to our partner websites.
These ads will appear on Yahoo and Fairfax digital in addition to placements through Adconion which targets consumers with an interest in travel or a Spirited Traveller personality type.
Thank you to all the partners that have confirmed their involvement.
Kakadu Campaign
The current Kakadu Top End campaign runs from 1 May 2012 to 24 June 2012. It builds on strengthening the positioning of Kakadu as a world class destination for nature and culture travel experiences as seen in previous activities. In addition, this year’s campaign has been partnered with Virgin Australia to convert interest to visitation by offering a sale fare to Darwin.
The campaign comprises a 45 second television and cinema commercial, print and digital advertising featuring new images that reinforces the natural and cultural attributes of Kakadu and wider Top End region.
As part of this integrated campaign Tourism NT has also:
• Partnered with Virgin to present sale and lead fares from Sydney to Darwin in the Kakadu TVC on 7,9 and SBS networks and through targeted digital placements.
• Created a series of half page double page spreads in various magazines across Australia through until June
• Produced digital content featuring the Kakadu TVC and Virgin Australia sale fares spread across Yahoo, Fairfax, Adconian and BBC digital networks.
• Supported the local Gagudju Dreaming / IHG promotion earlier in the year
Activity has also been supported by an AAT Kings promotion that highlights the touring options available in the Top End whilst promoting the natural and cultural features of the Top End. Check it out at www.matchandwin.aatkings.com.au
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Red Centre Campaign
The Red Centre Campaign has now transitioned into the Alice Springs phase, which positions Alice Springs as a gateway to the Red Centre, highlighting the many reasons to visit the town itself, and encouraging visitors to explore it.
The Alice Springs phase of the Red Centre Campaign has seen updated content uploaded to the travelnt.com website, supported by the distribution of 20,000 6-page concertina Avant Cards (postcards) that will be distributed in cafes and restaurants around Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane from April 15-29.
The cards also feature a compelling offer from Territory Discoveries for accommodation and tour packages to reinforce the ease and affordability of the Alice Springs experience.
Digital advertising from both Tourism NT and its industry partners is running online from March 18th - April 29th (with a 1 week break over Easter) featuring new images and rich video content running across News, TVN, Yahoo, Fairfax, Adconion, Ninemsn and Boom Video.
These ads will target consumers with an interest in travel, in addition to retargeting those people who have already shown an interest in the Red Centre Campaign.
The Alice Springs phase of the Red Centre Campaign features new and inviting images of Alice Springs, including Camel Rides, Olive Pink Botanical Gardens, Alice Springs Telegraph Station and Simpsons Gap.
The initial phase of the Red Centre Campaign ran for six weeks from 12 February, targeting Spirited Travellers on Australia’s eastern seaboard to travel to the Red Centre by creating a compelling reason to visit.
Qantas was the airline partner for the Red Centre campaign providing an enticing sale airfare.
The campaign will included the Palm Valley print image, TV commercial and digital advertising, reaching over six million people across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and regional areas along Australia's east coast. The digital advertising offered consumers the opportunity to watch a video of the Red Centre. The video was played over 6million times during the campaign. Additionally consumers clicked on the online advertisements over 43,000 times to gain more Red Centre information through the Travelnt.com website.
Northern Territory trade and industry partners also participated in the campaign offering travel deals through both online and print advertising. The online advertising was displayed 56million times on computer screens across the country. These ads were clicked over 22,500 times leading consumers directly into the campaign partner’s websites.
A leaflet was also produced for the hotels and other service providers in Central Australia, capturing the fantastic product on offer, to encourage further bookings following the visitor’s arrival in the region.
To enhance the campaign Tourism NT sponsored a visit by Scott Sporleder in October 2011, to Australia’s outback. Mr Sporleder contributes to MATADOR, an independent media company serving a global community of people who share a love for life and travel. They produce websites, a print magazine, a social network, live events and a new media school that is dedicated to training the new generation of travel bloggers.
Matadornetwork.com attracts more than 1 million unique visitors a month which surpasses other well-known and highly trafficked sites like concierge.com (Conde Nast Traveler) and Travel & Leisure, and now includes rich video content promoting the Red Centre.
While further research on the campaign’s performance will be gathered and analysed over the coming months, initial tracking results from Roy Morgan show that the campaign has increased awareness of the NT by Spirited Travellers by almost 6 percentage points compared to this time last year.
For more information download the 2012 Red Centre Campaign Flyer (PDF, 1.85MB).
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Self-drive gets a big push
The key self-drive market accounts for over 80,000 visitors each year to the NT. Tourism NT is launching a great new campaign to spin the wheels of self drive holidays even more. You can be part of it.
The campaign recognises the potential that this market has for the Territory throughout the year, and seeks to address some of the barriers that challenge the drive market – cost, access and distance.
It involves collaboration between Tourism NT and regional tourism organisations along with support from national partners Britz and BIG 4.
Components of the campaign will include dedicated website content, a presence at caravan and camping shows across the country, and a useful new app. The Explorers Way mobile application is a comprehensive guide packed with information and “Mates Rates” to entice the self drive traveller to YOUR product or service. Help us to inspire more self drive travellers to take a trip in the NT – provide them with an incentive to go further, stay longer and have a self drive adventure.
To be involved, simply provide an exclusive special offer or ‘value add’ that will excite self drive travellers and engage them in your product. To register your interest, please contact Bev Bury, Manager Trade & Industry Marketing: beverley.bury@nt.gov.au Qantas in-flight entertainment promotes the NT
As part of our ‘100 Years of the NT, Over 50,000 Years of Stories’ PR activities, Tourism NT has worked with Qantas In-Flight Entertainment to produce five short films based on the overall themes of the centenary commemorations. Each features a different region, and is being shown on all Qantas domestic routes.
Presenter Zoe Naylor of McLeod’s Daughters fame spends time with local guides in Uluru, Kakadu, Darwin, Alice Springs and Katherine to explore the diversity of adventure experiences that can be had within each region and its surrounding areas.
Click on the link below to view the Katherine region video featuring Jamie Brookes and Mick Jerram showcasing the Katherine River and Nitmiluk Gorge, highlighting Nitmiluk Tours cultural cruise on Nitmiluk Gorge and camping, trekking, fishing and kayaking with Gecko Canoeing and Trekking.
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The Great NT Hat Yak
The Northern Territory is defined by more than its iconic attractions and spectacular destinations … it is defined by its people. The Northern Territory is full of unique characters and everyone has some unique stories to tell.
The Great NT Hat Yak was devised to utilise what we consider to be a great, untapped resource - our local, passionate Territorians. Through Hat Yak we have enabled Territorians to share their stories about the Northern Territory, to really capture the character of this place.
This public relations campaign commenced last year as part of our celebrations for 100 Years of the Northern Territory, by branding 100 Akubra hats and sending them out to 100 Northern Territory residents who are passionate about the Northern Territory.
The hats were to be used as a ‘talking stick’ – when the advocate wore the hat they told their story, uploaded it onto hatyak.com, before handing it on to another Territorian with a great story to tell.
In addition to the Akubra hats, there is also a virtual hat on the website to allow people all over the country and around the world to share their NT story.
The first phase of the campaign was to gather stories from local Territorians, but we have already seen stories shared from Australians in other states who have either travelled to, or lived in the NT.
We’ve already gathered some great stories – Jonathon Uptin, a local media personality in Darwin recorded his story in the midst of one of our great monsoonal storms; photographer Peter Eve told his yarn from a waterhole in the Red Centre; there are also stories uploaded to hatyak.com through dance, photography and song.
The first phase of the campaign ends on January 31, when the teller of the best yak to date will win a money-can’t-buy journey around the Northern Territory. They will be treated to some exclusive experiences, including a tour of Alice guided by the town’s Mayor, Damien Ryan, and the opportunity to have the township of Katherine temporarily named after them.
2011 in review
Darwin campaign
The 2011 destination Darwin campaign runs from 29 August to 30 September and builds upon the award winning 2009/10 ‘Mix it Up ’ campaign, whilst leveraging new developments in digital technology to engage Spirited Travellers and encourage them to book a short break to Australia’s only tropical harbour side city and gateway to surrounding areas including the Tiwi Islands and Litchfield National Park.
Mix-It-Up in Darwin involves an integrated mix of highly visible and tactical placements acting as a strong platform to promote Darwin as a destination, while delivering leads to partner products as an incentive to book a short break in Darwin over the coming months.
Our offical airline partner for the campaign is Virgin Australia. Another ten industry partners invested in the campaign:
- Novotel Darwin Atrium
- Mantra on the Esplanade
- Mantra Pandanas
- Quest Palmerston
- Crowne Plaza Darwin
- Holiday Inn Darwin
- Holiday Inn Esplanade
- Sea Darwin
- Darwin Day Tours
- Budget Rent a Car
Advertising will be placed on illuminated outdoor billboards, bus shelters and major office buildings throughout Melbourne and Sydney, and will be supported by a national digital advertising campaign across Yahoo!7, Youtube, Facebook, Google and Fairfax news websites. Print advertisements will also run in the weekend magazines of the major metropolitan newspapers in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Mix-It-Up in Darwin continues Tourism NT’s trend of embracing innovative digital developments such as Quick Response Codes (QR Codes). A QR Code is a two dimensional square barcode formed by dots. When the barcode image is photographed using a smartphone, it opens the users’ mobile phone internet browser and leads them directly to the Darwin campaign mobile website where they can find more information about the diverse range of experiences on offer, engage with partner deals or book their flights with official airline partner, Virgin Australia.
For the first time, consumers are also able to ‘like’ a partner deal on Facebook. This will create higher exposure for partners and extend the campaign’s reach to include the consumer’s extended networks.
The Travel NT consumer website will also lead consumers to the destination Darwin micro-site, which also includes deals and a link to Virgin Australia’s booking engine.
This campaign leverages the award winning Mix-It-Up message to provide a connection with previous campaigns, whilst depicting a variety of experiences that demonstrate the vibrant, tropical nature of the city and its surrounds. In line with the needs of our target audience, the campaign differentiates Darwin as an active short break destination focusing on three key experiences:
- Go Wild – Showcases some of the many opportunities for visitors to engage with wildlife, from swimming with crocodiles to fishing for Barramundi at Mary River
- Wetlands and Waterfalls – Places a spotlight on Litchfield National Park as the perfect spot for swimming and hiking within easy access of Darwin
- Outdoor Living – Highlights the tropical outdoor lifestyle of Darwin through experiences such as shopping at the Mindl Beach sunset markets
Examples of the marketing material is available within the Darwin Campaign Factsheet (PDF 50KB).
Festivals campaign
The recently concluded 2011 Festival Territory campaign ran from June 6 to August 14 with the support of 12 industry partners including Qantas. New to this year’s campaign was a festival guide highlighting the diversity and uniqueness of the NT’s vibrant festivals and events. More than one million copies of the guide were distributed through major publications in Sydney and Melbourne, reaching over 30% of Spirited Travellers in these markets and driving them to an online festivals hub for suggested itineraries and great travel deals. The festival guide was supported by integrated online advertising across a number of targeted placements that reached over 1.2 million unique users, generated over 3.5 million video plays and delivered more than 15,000 leads to industry partners in the campaign.
As part of the campaign, Tourism NT also declared every Wednesday in July to be National Hump Day, playing on the connection to Alice Springs Camel Cup. This PR activity created a platform to talk about all NT Festivals. Hump Day activities saw camel trains appear at Circular Quay and Federation Square to promote a Hump Day Facebook application that encouraged people to create a “Super Camel Racer” using a photo of themselves, and enabled them to win one of four holidays to attend an NT Festival. Facebook application was live for just four days and resulted in the creation of more than 2000 Super Camel Racers. The public events generated 40 media pieces nationally, including National ABC News, the Daily Telegraph, mX Sydney, Herald Sun and Fox Sports Australia.
In addition, Tourism NT engaged Festival Reporters “The Two Tims” to film their experiences at The Beanie Festival, The Camel Cup, Darwin Beer Can Regatta and Henley-on-Todd Regatta. The resulting videos have become social media hits, receiving more than 41,500 combined views so far. The Beer Can Regatta clip is currently the most watched video on our Australia’s Outback Youtube channel.
Kakadu campaign
The 2011 domestic Kakadu campaign ran from 15 May to 5 June and had the support of 15 trade and industry partners including Qantas. Tourism NT invested over $800,000 in the campaign, which showcased our World Heritage-listed National Park as the premier destination for natural and cultural encounters.
In addition to a 45-second television commercial, the integrated campaign featured a series of print and online advertisements designed to inspire more Australians to visit Kakadu.
Preliminary results indicate that the Kakadu campaign has resulted in a significant increase in the number of visitors to the travelnt.com consumer website, with traffic up 42% as well as an increase in leads to industry partners of 30% during the campaign period. Consumers have demonstrated their interest to travel by making more than 13,000 clicks direct to campaign partner websites, including Qantas.
Watch this space for full results from the campaign to be announced shortly.
My Kitchen Rules
The Northern Territory has become the new star of Channel 7’s hit program My Kitchen Rules. The episodes promoting the Northern Territory began on 28 March 2011 with contestants participating in a cook-off at Ooraminna Station, Alice Springs. This episode was followed by two further episodes showing contestants experiencing an NT odyssey aboard The Ghan travelling from Alice Springs and arriving in Darwin on 30 March 2011.
Tourism NT’s Global PR & Media team pitched the concepts and locations and worked with the program’s producers with the aim of using pop culture as a driver for destination consideration. The content of the three episodes takes a whole of Territory approach, covering the Red Centre (Alice) and Top End (Katherine/Darwin). The two regions are linked by a journey on the Ghan.
Red Centre campaign
Red Centre Campaign - Industry Update June 2011 (PDF, 3.3MB)
The global Red Centre campaign launched in February 2011 with a new television advertisement airing on free-to-air television in metro and regional areas across Australia.The television advertisement continues to communicate the physical, natural, cultural and wellbeing benefits of a holiday in the Red Centre.
In addition to the new television advertisement and activity on Tourism NT’s consumer and YouTube sites, advertising is being placed on YouTube, Facebook, Fairfax, Lonely Planet, National Geographic and the BBC, and in the Good Weekend, Sunday Life, Weekend Australian and Women’s Health magazines.
Global Kakadu campaign
The Kakadu campaign ran from the 9th of January until the 6th of February targeting adventure-led Spirited Travellers interested in experiencing incredible landscapes, indigenous culture and a wide range of nature-based activities.
Tourism NT worked with airline partner Jetstar, who invested an additional $200,000 to extend activity in key interstate markets. The co-partnered campaign was a truly integrated program with advertising through online, free to air television, cinema and print channels.
Cinema played a key role in the integrated program, with Tourism NT creating Australia’s first fully shot and produced 3D cinema advertisement.
A social media competition also ran throughout the campaign period giving people the chance to win a Kakadu Adventure. The competition was hosted on Jetstar’s facebook page and received a total of 796 entries.
Oprah visit
Tourism NT, with the support of the tourism industry, hosted American talk show host Oprah Winfrey and 14 of her loyal fans as part of Oprah’s Ultimate Australian Adventure.
The group of fans visited both the Top End and Red Centre, spending time at a rock art site in Arnhem Land before meeting Ms Winfrey at the spiritual heart of Australia, Uluru.
Immense media interest at the time of their visit resulted in extensive world-wide media coverage promoting the Northern Territory, valued at more than $23 million. In addition, the broadcast of the program in the US attracted more than 6.1 viewers with another 1.8 million Australians tuning into the program when it aired in January 2011.
Tourism NT also developed a comprehensive leveraging campaign around Ms Winfrey’s trip to the NT, to provide the Northern Territory with a greater share of voice around the visit.
The campaign included:
- Advertising on Oprah.com and Facebook.
- Dedicated pages with information on the experiences had by Ms Winfrey on Tourism NT’s consumer websites.
- Special tab on Oprah’s Ultimate Australian Adventure on Northern Territory – Australia’s Outback Facebook page.
- Territory Discoveries sold travel packages that focused on NT experiences undertaken by the Oprah’s Ultimate Australian Adventure audience members.
- Yahoo BVD in the North American market that includes deals, image gallery, video, and competition.
- Participation in the retail consumer campaign conducted by Tourism Australia in the United States.
- 150 residents of the Red Centre also thanked Ms Winfrey for visiting the NT, by forming a human landsculpture that spelt out the words ‘Thanks O’. The activity was filmed with a video and placed on YouTube that received more than 28,000 views.
Additional information on the visit can be found Oprah's website.
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