NOTE: This post was originally written as a comment to a Tnooz story on the Tourism Australia There’s Nothing Like Australia television commercial. Due to the large number of video links – some of them to truly great ads, I decided to post it here (as well as expand the content a little) to make the video viewing a bit more of a single window affair.
photo credit: Dave KeeshanI love pretty much everything about Australia. Their idea for a user-inspired campaign was genius. Too bad the ad was simply annoying.
The genesis of the ad was terrific – part of a clever promotion / competition that had over 30,000 photo submissions to date from Australians providing their favorite vacation memories.
Tnooz felt the ad was being intentionally ironic in an attempt to gain viral traction. I can wholeheartedly agree with Tnooz that the ad is ironic. Unfortunately, based on some of the quotes I have read from the advertising agency and Tourism Australia officials responsible for its production, the irony was unintentional.
Matt Eastwood, DDB national creative director, is quoted in Australian media publication Mumbrella stating: “The TV spot is unique in that we go back to some of the iconic locations that have not featured in Tourism Australia’s advertising in a while, such as Uluru, the Twelve Apostles, the Gold Coast and the camels on the beach in Broome.”
Eastwood added that they chose to write a song for the ad because of the “universal appeal” music has with people, regardless of whether they are from an English or non-English speaking country.
Mumbrella also quoted Chris Brown, DDB group MD, saying: “The ad not only shows the depth of what Australia has to offer, as a new and exciting experience, but through research we realized it was also important to capture the welcoming nature and warmth of the Australian people.”
Tourism Australia’s managing director, Andrew McEvoy, was quoted by
On paper, it should have worked. But it didn’t. continue reading →
