Tourism Australia restarts ‘G’day’ campaign; launches in Tokyo
Tourism Australia has hit the restart button on its ‘G’day’ campaign, kicking off with OOH instalments in Singapore, London and New York after launching in Tokyo.
The new brand ambassador, Ruby the souvenir kangaroo, will be voiced in English by Australian actress Rose Byrne, and localised for non-English markets, with Japanese actress Maryjun Takahashi to be the voice of Ruby in Japan.
After unveiling the digital billboard in Tokyo, the Minister for Trade and Tourism, Senator the Hon Don Farrell, said: “Ruby will resonate with international audiences as the campaign is rolled out across key international markets to remind the world why There’s Nothing Like Australia.”
Tourism Australia CMO, Susan Coghill, said the multichannel campaign will remind travellers of Australia’s iconic destinations and friendly faces.
“The use of an animated character in Ruby was a deliberate move that aims to cut through the clutter of destination marketing internationally and it is backed by research,” Coghill said.
Tourism Australia managing director, Phillipa Harrison, said the new campaign will support the tourism industry as it rebuilds, by converting the pent-up demand for an Australian holiday and encouraging people to plan and book their adventure.
“Our aim is to keep Australia high on people’s consideration list and to get travellers to take that critical next step and book their holiday to Australia to experience everything we have to offer,” Harrison said.
“Visitor economies around the world are looking to rebuild as we emerge from the pandemic and that will make the tourism landscape more competitive than ever before, which is why we have made sure Come and Say G’day will cut through and make Australia stand out today and in the long term.”
The campaign will officially launch on 19 October.
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Darcy Song was a reporter at Mumbrella, covering media owners, adtech and social platforms. She left in October 2023.
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Cynic,
Whilst the campaign has some holes, and I agree the cities are regularly omitted from campaigns – I think you need to work in Tourism to understand what sells to international guests is not what will sell to domestic guests. Hate to tell you this but people aren’t coming here because of our restaurants… its our animals, people, landscapes, tourism experiences and nature experiences.
Ruby will not work for all markets – Especially Australians travelling domestically or luxury markets – But Tourism Australia’s job is to get people coming from overseas – This will resonate in Asia in my view which is an enormous market regularly overlooked or targeted effectively.
If used selectively and smartly this could work… (with some improvements)
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Seriously?! Is that the best we can do?! It’s cringeworthy.
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Well, at least Ruby is a female, doh! That is very, very responsible. She clearly hopes for pester power because she should have appeal to the Under 14s who can be relied on to pester their parents into a $40,000 holiday for four. Happens all the time.
Isn’t it time we added something about our major cities, not just the Outback, the Reef and the beach? All our major cities are marvellous and all quite different. (They all have beaches, too, in case you’re getting nervous.) Obviously, I don’t know what’s planned for specialist markets and appeals, but I don’t see Ruby leading a drive for the foodie market, for instance, unless of course you want to talk about eating her.
Hate to be a cynical Cynic but, to me, this really misses the mark. Now I’ll hop it.
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