Tourism Australia unveils new $250m There’s Nothing Like Australia campaign

That’s quite a beautiful ad.

Very meh. Some brilliant shots absolutely, but it wasn’t inspiring or enrolling enough for the kind of sized campaign that it is.

There is nothing like a big, beautiful, colourful ad to make you love your own country.

They forgot to add the Qantas logo at the end.

beautiful shots. uplifting anthem music. made me all proud & tingly in my Aussie bits. I don’t know if James Reyne was the right singer… i would’ve liked to understand the words a bit better…

Looks like a mashup of all previous state and national tourism ads in higher res, with a swoon-romantic soundtrack…

Interesting choice of music. The intro is very celtic. Why not try something different?

Kids,kangaroos, beaches, nice sunsets – all good stereotypical elements. It’s the Kangaroo Island campaign buffed up. I’m sure in Shanghai, New York and London they’ll get it, will they?

Surely it should be ‘There’s Nowhere Like Australia’? Australia is not a thing…it is a location!

$4m production and they still used stock footage of the gold coast?

It’s like spending $100M rebuilding the harbour bridge.

Why bother?

Same old. Same old. I actually object as a marketer, AND a taxpayer. If this achieves a positive $ based ROI I will eat my leg. It’s the same as every ad ever made for australia. And will fail in teh same way.

I can only imagine how much better off we would all be if they gave this budget to the LCC’s.

I still don’t understand ‘nothing like Australia’. That line is not uniquely Australian and could work for any other country… ‘Nothing like China’ ‘Nothing like Armenia’ ‘Nothing like Canada’. It’s the reason why ‘shrimp’ and ‘bloody’ were so successful; uniquely Australian.

Does it makes me very proud to be Australian? Yes. Will it help people overcome the barriers to travel in our own backyard? No.

Since when to people come here to play Chess?

Nice images, but what an awful soundtrack. Totally wasted opportunity for an emotional connection. They could have got Seal or anyone for that budget.

James Reyne didn’t sing it pal. It’s much better than their last offering. To be honest, a black screen would have been better…

Singing in tune, great iconic shots. Makes me want to visit some of those places!

Aspirational and inspiring – just what a destinational ad should be. Doesn’t have a million kangaroos and focuses on the people. Just wonder were the cultural element went and agree with Doug about the words (but reckon it’ll still be an I-tune hit). Has hints of Tourism New Zealand’s ad a few years back – which surely isn’t a bad thing. I hope once it’s cut to the 15″ it doesn’t lose it’s impact too much.

Same old message – pretty but shallow

Great, let’s launch it in China with no Chinese people in the ad.

And where the bloody hell are the box jellyfish, great white sharks, salties, red-bellied black snakes, bogans and flies – all the thing that make our country unique and exciting!

I spotted a 1/2 second clip of some Indigenous Australians, and 2 seconds of an Asian couple. Everyone else was white. Serious oversight by Tourism Australia or do they just not want to publicise our multicultural society?

The owner of the Surfish cafe on Bondi beach, next to the Bucket list told me a story of the Chinese Tourist. Everyday there are dozens of coaches that bring in Chinese package tours to stop and take photos of Bondi. Then bam, back on the bus.

These visitors are on package “value” holidays. The packages are cheap and are all inclusive. And the operators make sure that very few dollars actually get into the hands of local businesses.

My friend told me that one Tour guide came in to his cafe and asked for two cups of coffee and 20 cups. They took the coffees and portioned them into the 20 cups. He swears the Chinese package tourist market does nothing for Australia.

Perhaps the Casinos do better ?

Not bad I guess, seen worse. Obviously the key finding of the research was “I wanna pat a wild kangaroo and stroll on past an enormous seal”.

To all the knockers who’s comments lack insight, and who clearly are not good enough to have roles with a major such as DDB or Clems, it would be lovely if just for a change, you didnt have to feel like taking your negativity out on the rest of the world. It’s called PHASE MARKETING – ie, several phases that create familiarity with a brand through consistency of theming. Further, do you naysayers have any idea about the reach and frequency of the plan in the respective markets? Thought it may be crucial to understand the full detail behind the campaign before you simply sh&t can it!

To those at TA and DDB that put this together, well done.

Stunning scenery and gorgeous sound track.

There are always going to be people who criticise TA’s ads (everyone thinks they can do it better, let’s set it!), but they should be congratulated for sticking with the message “There’s Nothing Like Australia” and for returning to the sophistication and rich imagery our country’s brand deserves.

Playing to our strengths. It’s not ground breaking, but it’s well put together.

Bring back Paul Hogan!

Dull wishy-washy generic material that will generate few sales in the key China mainland market.

feels like its for the over 50 brigade. not sure what demo comes here most, but the ad should have mixed adventure and excitement, a pic of a croc, some surfers and canyoners, cliched but appealing to the under 30’s

Visually great but a dud track. (although it’s probably meant for parts of the world that have unfortunate taste in music)

Really beautiful. I got a bit chokey there.

I would ask Rusty to put a schrimp on his BBQ and put the $3M change back into retailing the offer hard. Music holds it up for cut through… need to make the words clearer too. but very pretty. No mention of “social media”????

Ah, this ad reminds me of when I was at the beach the other day and a Wallaby bounded over to me, allowing me to pet it…

Also, how exciting were the shots of those people playing chess! Book me a ticket now!

Another dull effort. Here is how to do tourism ads right.

Alberta, Canada. Bravo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThFCg0tBDck

Yep, I’d rather visit Alberta.

But seriously how hard would it have been to use a killer track instead of the crap that was in the Nothing Like Australia ad.

Whoever says they were moved by that obviously worked on the campaign.

And aside from the dismal track, filmically some nice use of slo-mo and more human faces would have made the ad work 10,000 times better. I could make a slideshow on iMovie with a killer track in 15 minutes, and it would be better. This thing as it is just looks C grade.

And yes i agree, “Nothing Like Australia” does not make sense to me. Could have had a better strap line. “Is Australia, Is the Best Place to Holiday” Um goi!

boring

NEEDS MOAR DROP BEARS

I’m heading over to social media to see what the Chinese make of it ….

There’s Nothing Like … passing judgement on campaign executions that you’re not in the core target audience for. I’m already here.

Yes it’s been done before, yet it makes sense to play to our strengths and its been executed beautifully. Let’s remember the Aussie dollar is strong, and what this ad does show is the great diversity of experiences on offer in our country – that don’t necessarily
cost money.

There’s nothing like any country. I’m so friggin’ over that ‘strategy’. What about the fact that we’re the happiest people in the world? Use something unique Tourism Australia.

Surely the question is more around effectiveness here. Is an ad going to really overcome the significant barriers that exist in our minds around travelling in Australia when an overseas destination offers something perceived to be more enriching and potentially cheaper?

I’m not going to pretend that I know anything about marketing or advertising, I’m just married to someone who does and I read these blogs to get some insight into their world. Having said that, I like pretty pictures and this has a few, so considering that I’m the one who books the holidays, I think they’ve probably done a good job.
The song lacks the same appeal as the visuals though.

I thought I’d trawl for trolls here…and wasn’t disappointed.

Some comments for others…including my namesake Adam Joseph from the Herald Sun (assuming you’re still there mate).

I have no doubt Nick Baker, Jesse Desjardins and the social media team will be disecting Facebook, RenRen and other social media data as I write this.

To P.Stenhouse (2:48) you’re spot on. Andrew McEvoy’s “You’ll love every piece of Victoria” (prior to his move to Tourism Australia) works because of reach and repetition.

This campaign showcases our premier tourism products, reinforces Making Tracks, highlights the unique blend of nature and urban sophistication.

A lot of work went into this excellent campaign — well done Tourism Australia and DDB. It reminded me a lot of the commercial that Greg Daniel created for Australia’s successful Olympic Bid when he was at Clemengers.

Would the holiday shown in this advert be fun? It doesn’t make me feel light-hearted or adventurous . . eheu.

@Adam Joseph – look imposter, I’m older than you so I had the name first. Please visit: http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/chan.....geName.htm

But you do make a very good point. So on second thoughts, keep it and do us both proud (btw, I left the Herald Sun last year – now consulting)

music is horrific and distracts terribly from everything else

Great ad, I want to go there!!

Hey Stenhouse you equate being at the majors with being good? Time to get a reality check.

And it genuinely scares me that you talk about frequency and reach. Time to catch up with modern comms buddy.

There is nothing as expensive as travelling Australia….hotels, tours, entries….. Every tourist I speak to tell me Australia is too expensive…I can’t afford to travel Australia….better to travel overseas……many cities half the price for accommodation that Australia….Accommodation in Seoul – $50 a night, Osaka – $40 a night…Sydney $150 a night – Bridge Climb $188…so a hotel promotion told me. Who is Tourism Australia trying to kid….. Australia is just too expensive for everything.

wow- Australia is a country of Anglo’s – not one Chinese, not one Indian, not one non Anglo in sight in that ad. Who are they trying to kid…. We are a multi cultural society and that ad totally ignores that fact.

Adam

Andrew never worked on that campaign at tourism Vic, he was at tourism SA at the time.

That campaign was the work of Sean cummIns in any event. To say that ad worked because of repetition is based on….? Opinion or data?

Generic messages that sell the whole of Australia won’t work except to the longest of long haul markets. To appreciate the weakness of the ad you need to understand the weakness of australia in consumer data.

Nobody flying short to medium haul is going to come to Australia. They are going to go to sydney for the bridge, or cairns for the reef or Melbourne for the casino or the shopping. They rent going to go to the whole of australia.

When did you last see any comms from destination Europe or an ad campaign that tried to sell the whole of the USA?

But TA need to please all the state bodies. nd I’m afraid to say it will not ever work.

This ad will only drive a bit of awareness for that reason based on the spend but very little in the way of actual visitation. give the money to Jetstar, air Asia, or scoot and watch the visitors flood in.

Sorry but this campaign is a disastrous waste of taxpayers money.

$4m on production!!!!

I’m sorry, but tourism is about experience, expression, sharing them moments!!

this ad is “telling and selling”, an impression!! the strategy is old school and OFF the mark.

the “ad” is beautiful and the DOP will have a lovely showreel.

Adam…quite attached to our name, thanks all the same. I will not put myself through the deed poll process again.

Dave May, yes I am aware that Tourism Victoria (where Andrew McEvoy worked before going to Tourism SA) engaged Cummins Nitro. He does good work…as Virgin and Tourism Qld can attest. Success has many fathers, and both should proudly claim paternity.

The importance of reach and repetition in advertising is a well known concept…

Let’s wait to see consumer sentiment on social media and IVS data before we call this one.

With respect your suggestion to throw cash at Jetstar, I think Dave May from their marketing department would agree…unless of course you’re the same Dave May?

Typical boring Australian tourism ad.

If only a tourism authority in this country would come up with an idea that will either capture the attention of tourists to the point that it will actually inspire them to want to holiday in Australia.

A few things

– Everyone in tourism in Australasia claims to have been at the starting point of either the Jigsaw campaign in Vic or the Pure NZ campaign. Heard it a million times. That being said McEvoy was at T Vic at that time – he knows his stuff and would have added more value to this campaign than many past MD’s. This will also be the first and last time I namedrop someone involved as I find it pretentious above..

– The days of $4 million production should have been over by now. The opportunity cost of the padding involved in the the old agency and production house models is too much to bear, even in a $250 (?!) million campaign.

– The work is good, a few of the comments above RE diversity of people in the shots maybe ring true, but they may be coming in other versions. Music doesn’t match the quality of the vision. As some have mentioned above, the suite of activity is yet to be seen where more balance may play out. Those saying where is the social need to better understand the TA marketing history and structure, it will come.

– I think it is a piss weak brand proposition – an empty brag about how good we are. Yes it can allow diversity and the state and industry sector politics are always playing a part but it is shallow and therefore needs a quarter of a billion to make it work hard enough globally obviously

I figured out the rest of the budget:

250m – 4m production = 256m.

So, allow airtime on Chinese TV = 56m.

Leaves 200,000,000 leftover.

Paying Chinese Govt to allow advertising, priceless.

Or,… could it be…that this campaign is really to impress Aussies?

Oops. Got my numbers wrong.

But only by ten million.

No biggie.

Clive, you’ve hit the nail on the head. An ad that’s disconnected from the problems that stop people travelling is no good. Pretty. But a waste of money.

I knew this guy from China who came to Melbourne (city centre) on his Australian tour, looks around, and goes “So where’s the kangaroos?”

To “Not P Stenhouse”…. Thanks for your constructive and incisive comments whilst hiding behind an alias which demonstrates that you are not even bold enough to back your own comments with your name. Extremely courageous my friend.
As for my use of terms, mate, they have the same meaning as whatever new terms some marketeer with nothing better to do with their day came up with.
Anyway, I’ll continue on with my day running my multi-million dollar turn over business which I built from nothing {apparently, through strong sales and marketing skills}, and you go back and re-visit the things that the previous 5 people that were in your position already did, re-do them, and call that a marketing plan.
GUTLESS!

Stenhiue… dude… Does someone need a hug?

Always up for a hug…..

$250 million of tax payers money spent on a campaign – don’t tax payers get a say on how our money should be spent????Drop the prices for accommodation, travel, tours and food / eating out and then you may get some tourists to OZ…..

Nice TVC shame it missed so much of the reality of Australia.
Why was there no mention of Chinatown in either Sydney or Melbourne? The night markets in Darwin, or the deckchair cinema on the beach.
So we end up with the same old banal stuff in a pretty wrapper…

The reality is, or should be a closed sign with a steel shutter coming down at 6.30pm followed by a cut to a car load of bogans screaming past in a twelve year old Commodore with a loud pipe on it.
Why the continued sell on broken product? Sleepy hollow Oz is overpriced poor quality trash with little to do unless it involves shelling out wads of cash to tour operators.
It shuts early has no large free social gatherings or markets for example like Bangkok. It has an increasingly hostile feel to it, out of control cops who roam around in gangs looking for a fight. Deserted strets bereft of any colour movement or life.
I suppose some noggin may think Darling harbour with it’s pretentious $20 a beer, crap bars full of kids texting each other across the room may be the hip and happening thing but they have a warmth more akin to a shower in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp if you are over 19 years of age or non anglo in origin.
The 250 million could have been far better spent making this place far more tourist friendly on the ground before selling to a bunch of people who will be treated like mugs never to return again.

One calamity after the other. The last campaign that had any effect was the Paul Hogan “Shrimp on the Barbie, which was 30 years ago.

For all the brilliant minds available, all the research, insights, analysis, all the “big gun” name agencies, and gazillions of dollars, how can it keep being so wrong?

Who is running this show ?

Lets recount.
We had “Australia by Baz”, promoting a World War 2 cattle ranch in Woop Woop.
We had the bungled and Bingled “Where the Bloody Hell Are You”
and now another bland, average, say nothing, with no value proposition, that we have all seen before. With no idea and not even high production values.

Some of the above comments are right. I was in the Bondi Pavillion today, what a dump. How about we use some of that money to upgrade some of the iconic amenties, or assist free enterprise develop them.

OK, Australia is a nice clean safe place to live, but it is a terrible place to holiday. And shocking value for money. Take Singapore that has no natural beauty, and it is an awesome exciting place to visit. Bali has awesome natural beauty and is amazing value for money. Chinese people have these choices.

Given the duds that have been rolled out one after the other, how about this idea.

Why not “Crowd Source” Creative Australia for better ideas.

Why not publish all the research, facts, insights, market details, and a Brief in the public domain, and lets have a Competition to find the best way to fix our Tourism industry.

It would if nothing else ease the frustration that many of us harbour watching all this money get wasted, again, and again, and again.

What’s to lose ?

to whoever wrote the text to this story-they are the bungle bungle-very interesting comments on this one-yes -i have looked at going to the whitsunday islands-but at around 200-300 dollars per night(or more)with perhaps a buffet breakfast thrown in
i can not justify that for just me-then add a wife and three children and then when you add in flights/ food/ tours/drinks- it becomes very expensive
i now just go around victoria-a paradise in it’s own right-with all the things that bali has without the hassles-no airports and no tropical sickness

Beautiful footage but I agree the song is dull. It did make me want to visit the Kimberleys. How different are the cuts for domestic/international I wonder?

Looks like they “sold” the the production shot by shot and then tied an “idea” around the rich resorts who stumped up the cash to be featured.

And the music track is rubbish.

Kudos to the DOP.

Hey let’s get real,

That sounds plausible. They should have included titles on each of the locations, “Crown Casino, Kangaroo Island, Barrier Reef, Bungle Bungles” so at least the destinations would have made some sense.

And you can almost hear the music track brief.

“We want a Jo Jo Ma cello at the opening, then an operatic love song, because we think Chinese people like that kind of stuff”

Stenhouse you are an angry man. I checked out your multimillion business you started from scratch. Ummm you didnt start it from scratch you own a franchise. Not even close to the same thing.

Same old…. trying to please the commissioners in Australia…… even Paul Hogan’s was supplemented by a significant resurgence in Oz cinema, tv and music….

Best left to the experts, i.e our favourite airlines Singapore, Cathay, Etihad, Emirates and Qatar who not only know their markets best, but have a much more diverse marketing reach….

Having just got off a plane from OS, and irrespective of how good or otherwise the advertising is, we still have the inherent problems of:

(a) loud Aussies projecting an image of us culture-less cretans (and at times having us confused with Americans); and

(b) the experience for any international visitors when they get to any major airport is appalling – rude & intolerant shuttle bus drivers, anal customs officers, baggage that has cobwebs when finally delivered to carousels (especially Sydney) and so on. Everywhere I’ve travelled including Asia, Europe, UK & even the middle east, the first line experience is much better. (Manchester airport an exception).

So its all well and good to project (unrealistic) stereotype images that frankly Australia is renowned for internationally anyway, but here’s a radical thought – how about Tourism Australia throwing some effort at making the populace consider how they act when abroad and encouraging politeness, courtesy, tolerance and non-racial atributes into our first line ‘ambassadors’ at airports, so that the first impression for visitors isn’t so negative. And it’s not a one off or unique – its happened at every international Australian airport that I’ve landed.

I partly blame the turnover is marketing staff, much easier to sell the easy solution (dust it off from last campaign) than address the tough issues when an agency does its ‘research’ and then pitches, as its low risk.

You ever seen an ad for the Philipines?
So simple but I like it.
Probably cost a 10th of Oz ad.

Slightly off piste but this utterly genius piece of marketing was REJECTED by the tourist organisation that commissioned it. The reason given was that ” It didn’t have the cultural fit” the brand needed. Forty thousand Cornishmen disagree however.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwe1xfjclJk&feature=player_embedded