Liberal Party urges Aussies to take a ‘Staycation’
The Liberal Party has launched a campaign to encourage Australians to stay in Australia for their holidays.
‘Staycation’ is the brainchild of Shadow Minister for Tourism and Regional Development Bob Baldwin, who features in a 2.5 minute tour of Australia’s top holiday destinations.
The video is being distributed via email and social media to drive people to the Staycation.org.au website.
This is very interesting. I do question why they are doing it. It seems strange that there is no gain from it but i do like it.
Good boost for jobs
Hey Tourism Australia, Wippa doesn’t have an h…
Great to hear a politician doing something positve for a change. Even if only a few Australians decide to holiday here rather than overseas the campaign will have been a success. Good on you Bob!
Oh god. Interesting move for Libs strategically but shocking stock-footage video.
Interesting… and Nat, there will be a clear gain – the premise is outlined clearly since it gives Adam Joseph and therefore Bob Baldwin the chance to say that the campaign neither “solicits a vote for an alternative federal coalition government, nor does it highlight the underinvestment in the tourism sector under Labor.” The campaign doesn’t but I bet it’ll be raised at the election.
I like the idea of a staycation: it’s a silly word – but a good idea. Unlike a naycation. That’s not a good idea. (ref: http://www.elliott.org/the-tra.....naycation/)
Great initiative by the Libs and Bob Baldwin. Well Done!
There are many decent, hard-working people on both sides of politics. Bob Baldwin is just one of them.
This looks great. I’ve been overseas plenty of times but I haven’t thought about a seeing Australia. What a great idea for local tourism!
This is a good idea and a timely one given the recent performance of the Aussie Dollar and domestic tourism suffering badly as a result.
It is indeed impressive that a Shadow Minister is taking the initiative to support industry stakeholders with action rather than taking the easy road of attacking the Government for its inaction.
Well done Bob Balwin.
Great to see a politician get out do something constructive for our jobs in Australia
I applaud Libs & Baldwin for actually trying to help our industry. I like how it is not political, just selling Australia. I like the term staycation, very catchy.
What, they couldn’t wait till they were in Govt? Why would they be stupid enough to improve the economy when not in power?
Good campaign idea – it provides a platform for them to build on if they come into power at the next election (which looks pretty likely right about now!)
I personally would have liked to see the big fella on a camel/sand dune surfing!
I think Staycation is a great initiative and extremely timely given the AUD.
Refreshing to see a politician from any persuasion just getting out there and ‘doing’
Well done Bob Baldwin!
As an ordinary B/Boomer I was very interested to see what is on offer in Oz – I think Ive been to all the places shown except the Parl House lawn so it’s put all the best places on show for people who haven’t…….made me want to go right out and get a campervan ….excellent promotion.and thank Goddess no bloody prawns. Congrats to those who thought up the idea and then actually went out and did it. ..and not wait til they were “in power”. Any time is a good time for a good promotion by anyone who can do it surely?
Too long, didn’t watch.
I smell a few rats in the predominately positive comments for what is a pretty unimpressive idea…. Any guess on how many respondents are connected to the Liberal party? Or are they just related to Bob Baldwin?
Nah. Been there, done that.
I’d rather go skiing in Japan.
I’d really like it if the liberal party took a permanent vacation
Of course you would say it’s a good idea Peter Hawkins, you’re on the credits list with Tribecount! Will be interested to see if the FB page for this gets any traction, considering there are already a load of ‘Australia’ fan pages, and so far this page isn;t doing anything new or interesting.
Did an Aussie Holiday for 7 nights just recently, had a great time, great weather etc one issue, flights, accom, hire car etc $3000 all in….Friends did 7 nights in Bali, 5* meals included for under $2000….when times are tough, people go where there is value. Australian holidays are not value!
Find me a hotel right on the beach for $500 for 6 nights and then I’ll stay in Oz.
I applaud this great initiative – especially for a politician. It’s a pity the cost of accommodation, transport and especially the cost of food and dining out forces so many Australians to venture overseas where their hard-earned dollar goes much further!
Urban dictionary has it again.
Staycation
1. The equivalent of being unemployed for a week.
2. A chance to sit around and look at all the reasons you wanted to get away for a week in the first place.
“Man, since I took that staycation, I really feel for all the guys who lost their jobs.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staycation
staycation was added to the dictionary in 2009. Wish I could have brainchildren like that.
Oh hang on. I just invented swine flu and the rubik’s cube.
C-Ya Guys, an overseas trip is cheaper and more thrilling than staying here…. Do we need another holida in Australia campaign, I mean, really….
This is what happens when we let our ‘client’s’ come up with all the GREAT ideas. In this case, being a politician and a liberal one at that, is even worse than usual.
They have got to be kidding. Australia is one of the most expensive countries in the world to travel and most Australians simply cannot afford the high cost of accommodation and meals in the Australian tourism industry. Much cheaper to have a holiday overseas. A nights accommodation in Osaka $50 in a brand new hotel room with ensuite, an evening restaurant meal $10 , a bottle of water at the airport $1.00…..Australia – lowest cost hotel room in major cities $100 a night, minimum cost for evening meal $20 and a bottle of water at Cairns Airport or in fact any Aust airport…$3.50. Why can’t we have one attractive airport in Aus with plants or flowers like Singapore Airport. I am off to China, Vietnam soon and Korea later in the year. Tourists I speak to in Australia all say it is too expensive and they can’t afford to travel here.
Seen it before, and from TA’s own initiative…
THe video is sloppy and sounds like throw a shrimp on the barbie, if TA have already done the campaign why bother rehashing it, why not repromote theirs!
Complete waste of tax payers money and I bet he just wanted to go on holiday!
Btw the video is riddled with inaccuracies, showing the Qantas A380! – it only flies intenationally!
Also, don’t want to be a spoilsport but ‘staycations’ is listed as a registered trademark.
I can’t see it acknowledged on that [bad wordpress] site.
Trade Mark : 1312842
Word: staycations
Image:
Lodgement Date: 31-JUL-2009
Registered From: 31-JUL-2009
Date of Acceptance: 14-OCT-2009
Acceptance Advertised: 03-DEC-2009
Registration Advertised: 03-JUN-2010
Entered on Register: 19-MAY-2010
Renewal Due: 31-JUL-2019
Class/es: 35
Status: Registered/Protected
Kind: n/a
Type of Mark: Word
who wants to go to Paris when you can climb a bridge in Brisbane
I agree with zeffyd, there’s a uncharacteristically long line of overly positive comments on this post.
Regardless it’s a pretty mild effort, it might do okay for a middle aged market though.
Pretty sure, this is already what Tourism Australia does….not a new idea…
How every sweet
Normally it’s a regional car yard or tyre company which puts the owner’s mug on telly. So kudos to Bob “g’day” Baldwin for elevating the charm of that kind of low-budget ad to a national level
So what Bob “I’m staying with my relos” Baldwin is arguing is let’s make the national carrier – love the A380 shot, is that meant to be subliminal? – even less profitable on its overseas routes by staying at home. It also ads the benefit of increased xenophobia and ignorance of international economic and political circumstances, which is kinda handy when you’re doing your best to convince the local population we’re stuffed.
And assuming this same sort of logic applies to all other nations, let’s give up on inbound tourism too, because they should have local holidays.
Still, most domestic tourism campaigns fail because they don’t have the minister, or would-be minister, as the central attraction to staying at home.
Now I’m off to have a bite of the “koozeen” Bob’s endorsing so heartily.
as zeffd remarked, the astroturfing of this comments thread by undeclared vested interests (Peter Hawkins of TribeCount this also includes you) is obvious and astonishing in its rank stupidity.
This is the intrawebs, people. Liars get sprung quickly
this was a very thinly veiled, pathetic bit of politicking to “solicit a vote for an alternative federal coalition government, and highlight the underinvestment in the tourism sector under Labor.”
it was a cynical exercise delivered to an even more cynical audience who smelled a rat straight away.
It has damaged the Liberal brand. Well done to Bob Baldwin and Adam Joseph well done on perpetuating the perception of the LIbs as condescending and duplicitous
I’ve just seen an ad for ‘breakations’ that Virgin Australia are running.
Any influence?
http://www.virginaustralia.com.....eakations/
What’s with all the wierdly positive comments on here? Normally commenters are keen to trash even well-produced ads, let alone dogs like this. But seriously, is this the best thing the shadow ministry has to do with its time? God help us all when Tony Abbott and his bunch of cronies get in, we’ll be told we should feel guilty about going overseas, but they’ll destroy our car industry because they dont agree with subsdies and cut wages.
Haha I love it. A few positive comments, then a swarm of negative ones which point out that the positive commenters are “biased”. Looks like Labor’s people have caught on to the scent and are doing exactly the same thing.
Can’t believe all the negativity towards Australian holidays – there are so many great places to visit. Granted, it is cheap at the moment to travel overseas but isn’t that whole point of the video? To try give the local tourism industry a boost after it’s taken a massive hit in the past year or so?
I can’t wait to see the LNP’s ad when they discover how much money and how many jobs are going overseas with the ‘off-shoring’ of jobs (not to mention the off-shoring of income and profit in overseas tax havens) – often done by some of their largest financial backers.
Can we send Tim from mumbrella on a staycation to Tasmania
can we send Tim from mumbrella on a permanent staycation to Tasmania
Hi Andy,
I feel your pain and indignation at the accusations that somebody has been astroturfing.
Obviously if the production company involved was caught doing it, it would be quite awkward, I guess. I’m not sure the client would be delighted if astroturfing was proven. It could be politically awkward for them if it reflected on the party.
On an unrelated note, I see you share an IP address with one where comments on previous Mumbrella threads have come from the staff of Unseen Productions who I see produced the ad above.
And indeed you also share an IP address with some previous commenters on this thread. For instance there’s Steve at 11.42am: “Great initiative by the Libs and Bob Baldwin. Well Done!”
And JG at 12.10pm: “Good campaign idea – it provides a platform for them to build on if they come into power at the next election (which looks pretty likely right about now!)
I personally would have liked to see the big fella on a camel/sand dune surfing!”
Then there’s JJ Sumarna, who’s written those comments about me just above. People can be so cruel. Although it does seem a tad mean as I haven’t actually expressed a view on the work.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
And while we’re at it, Bill (“Great to hear a politician doing something positive for a change”), Peter (“This looks great. I’ve been overseas plenty of times but I haven’t thought about a seeing Australia.” and Robert (“Great to see a politician get out do something constructive for our jobs in Australia”), I notice you share the same IP address too.
Then there’s Jodie Byers (“This is a good idea and a timely one given the recent performance of the Aussie Dollar and domestic tourism suffering badly as a result.”) and Peter (“I applaud Libs & Baldwin for actually trying to help our industry. I like how it is not political, just selling Australia. I like the term staycation, very catchy.”). I see you share IP addresses too.
oooh, so close guys. you nearly had us media folk fooled!
Gold detective medal to you Tim, classic!
Everyone is talking about the high $Aussie. My goodness against the Yen, it has gone from 1AUD to 350 yen around 20 years ago to around $1AUD – 80 Yen today…
The AUD is also around one third of the value against the European currency from 20 years ago.(e.g. comparison with what would have been the German Mark currency.)
Tim, you stay here, we need you to keep the sanity in the ad industry.
oh dear, political fail, guys. Do you think we’re idiots???
great effort
ps: what about a campaing corporate travellers
ouch
I can’t wait to never use unseen productions. The production looks dodgy, and their astroturfing seems worse.
Nice work Tim – no doubt these muppets will be passing themselves off as “Social Media Gurus” in their agencies.
Whilst I’m cranky, I’m assuming “jj sumarna” is being derogatory about Tasmania when he suggests sending Tim down there for a holiday. I’m a Tassie lad originally and here to defend – nicest state in Australia, best seafood, wine, beer and women.
So nick off and have a whinge about something you might have a clue about.
Cheers
Brendon “Yes, it’s my real name” Sinclair
@Brendon Sinclair, Tassie is great if you were born there but I lived there for 10 years and was still called a “mainlander”. I won’t bore you with dozens of experiences where being related to the right person was more important than being the best for the job. That state will continue to be average while the talent moves back to the mainland where their contribution is appreciated.
Agree about the seafood but everything else is average and better can be found on the mainland. Expensive place to visit, too.
Australian road trips were a great traidition when I was growing up, piling into the car with tent or van and off to Nambour or Lightening Ridge. As my own children were growing up we continued the tradition with trips to Mackay and Adelaide via Ned Kelly country, Ballarat, Bendigo, Great Ocean Rd. A must for every Australian.
@Jodie Byers, JJ Sumarna, Andy, JG – you guys are so busted!!!!
Nice work Tim!
Staycation has been used in the States for ages – not new, or Aussie I’m afraid.
Great initiative! It’s not about the individual here! Can’t NOT support this!
Dear oh dear, sloppy astroturfing boys and its not exactly hard to do it properly.
Shame Shame Shame.
Great stuff guys!
I can see why they’re called “Unseen Productions”. If they keep putting out shoddy work like this, the should rightfully stay ‘unseen’. Who researched, produced, wrote, shot, edited and did wardrobe on this? It’s freaking disgraceful.
Talking about great Aussie restaurants and the waiter is wearing a shirt with an Irish flag on it!?!? Sloppy camera work. Gallery shots in the wrong aspect ratio. The A380!!! Seriously???
C’mon guys!
Was there even a copywriter involved in this campaign?
We’ve eliminated Andrew Bolt, Alan Jones and Ray Hadley as copywriters – not enough vemon and vitriol.
I stopped at “G’Day David”. He knows the camel man by name. Ha ha!
thanks for verifying the astroturfing Tim
so hard to believe that in this day and age, people can be as idiotic as the folk at Unseen Productions
@TimT
Small matter of clarification: it’s an ITALIAN flag – in an Italian restaurant. Part of the message that you don’t have to leave Australia to sample the best cuisine or the food of other cultures; it can be done right at home, including waiters wearing house livery.
Perhaps it should have been a wombat shirt and serving dingo burgers?
The Internet is known for the rapid spread of wrong information – I’m doing my little bit to stem the tide.
Keep up the good work!
@John Holland
That’s what i first thought. But then maybe it’s the grade that was used.
On my (calibrated) screen it looks like green, white and orange, and that’s Irish.
This ties in nicely with the X-ray Body Scanners being used on all people leaving the country.
DO AS WE SAY OR WE WILL HUMILIATE YOU, DENEGRATE YOU AND DOSE YOU WITH RADIATION.