Aussie actors may not be leading the Oscar nominations this year, but we’re expecting to win in the tourism department.
Tourism Australia and Virgin Australia have launched a $4 million joint marketing campaign aimed at luring Americans to Australia.
The announcement comes less than a month after Virgin Australia said it would drop its fuel surcharges on flights to and from the US. Read on
The digital and TV campaign started yesterday in the lead up to the big Academy Awards night (22 February) and will run until 24 March 2015.
Ads will air during the Oscars pre-show and during Oscars coverage on Good Morning America.
Virgin Australia will team up with Tourism Australia to target Oscar viewers.
There will also be customised ads appearing on Huffington Post and Los Angeles Times. And takeovers on Yahoo!, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal.
All advertising will focus on driving traffic to the Australia.com website.
Virgin Australia’s Mark Hassel said the campaign aims to ‘wow’ Americans by showcasing Australia’s food and wine experiences; outstanding service; and more.
“Ultimately, the goal is to build upon the growth we have seen from the US market over the past 18 months, by delivering compelling destination messages and great travel offers to affluent, middle-aged leisure travellers in ten of America’s key states.”
John O’Sullivan, Tourism Australia managing director
The last time Tourism Australia attempted to woo Americans via a celebrity platform was with 2011’s Oprah’s Ultimate Australian Adventure.
The world famous talk show host visited a number of key Australian destinations over eight days including Hamilton Island, the Northern Territory, Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef.
Her tour was then aired in the US over four episodes of her show ‘Oprah’. They were re-screened in March 2011.
The last time Tourism Australia went after celebrity fans was with Oprah’s eight-day adventure Down Under.
Her $5 million visit was expected to have generated around $360 million in publicity that didn’t convert into visitor numbers.
That year, visitors from the US fell 0.8 percent, mainly due to the rise in the Australian dollar.
In 2014, the US was the fourth largest international market to Australia, with 537,600 arrivals during the year ending September.
This was a rise of 10.8 percent.
