Tourism New Zealand advertising in the UK has real travellers
and their experiences are at the heart of its message. So close to
the heart, in fact, that they're doing all the talking.
The British love New Zealand. Around 260,000 of them come here
each year, travelling half-way around the globe for the 'holiday of
a lifetime'. The 100% Pure New Zealand campaign has been successful
in driving growth in visitor arrivals from the UK since its launch
in 1999.
By 2007, however, this growth had begun to plateau. Travel had
become mainstream in the UK, with cheap flights to anywhere in the
world, and a raft of 'hot' new destinations had appeared on the
British travel radar. New Zealand was still up there on the list,
but it was competing with destinations like Vietnam, Cambodia,
Dubai, South America and South Africa.
New Zealand's problem was that we are an aspirational
destination. Everyone wants to come 'some day', but they know New
Zealand will always be here. Tourism New Zealand needed to find a
way to get the Brits to 'come now'.
Pure aspiration
So, in 2007/08 Tourism New Zealand undertook research into
British traveller's perceptions of New Zealand to find out what had
changed.
The research showed that New Zealand was still up there on
people's wish-lists, often in the top five. But because New Zealand
was seen as an aspirational holiday, people will hold off coming
here because they want to make it as great a trip as possible.
What New Zealand needed was a trigger: something that would give
consumers a reason to actually go and book a New Zealand holiday,
rather than just dreaming about it. The research showed that
trigger to be word of mouth. Word of mouth creates immediacy and
fills the visual picture of what a New Zealand holiday is all
about.
What do you say?
A new campaign - carrying the tagline 'What Do You Say UK?' -
was developed that would capture the power of word of mouth and use
it to promote New Zealand in the UK. Tourism New Zealand took a
film crew out on the road to some of New Zealand's most-loved
tourist spots and filmed British travellers talking about their New
Zealand holiday experiences.
These traveller 'testimonials' formed the backbone of the new
television commercials. The footage of excited and passionate
British travellers talking to camera was woven into the commercials
with their own holiday snaps, to give credibility and show the
kinds of experiences these people had in New Zealand.
The new commercials first went to air in September 2008 and were
an instant success. User sessions to www.newzealand.com/trave/uk-ireland
increased by almost 50 per cent in the month following the
campaign's launch. In October 2008, a survey in the UK's
Marketing Magazine named the campaign among the top 10
most-remembered television commercials.
The second phase of the campaign saw a mobile film studio tour
New Zealand during the summer of 2008/2009, filming personal videos
diaries from more than 1,500 travellers. These 'video postcards'
were posted directly to a special 'Have Your Say' YouTube channel and the links
were emailed out to visitors' friends and families.
While the initiative was designed to target travellers from the
UK, visitors from 42 different countries were involved and the
videos were watched more than 130,000 times in total.
International visitors recorded more than
1,500 video postcards in Tourism New Zealand's 'Have Your Say'
mobile studio over summer 2009, with total video views reaching
more than 120,000.
Working together
'What Do You Say UK?' isn't a step away from 100% Pure New
Zealand, but an extension of the brand. The 'Youngest Country'
still shows in cinemas and on television in the UK, driving
awareness of New Zealand and keeping the destination
aspirational.
A new campaign launched in 2009, which is specifically targeted
at the youth and backpacker markets, also now sits alongside 'What
Do You Say UK?' advertising in the UK. Carrying the tagline 'Go All
The Way', this campaign sends the message out to British gap-year
travellers that they haven't 'gone all the way' unless they make it
down to New Zealand.
The 'What Do You Say UK?' commercials are designed to be a call
to action, giving consumers that reason to go out and book. For
this reason, the travel industry are an integral part of the
campaign.
The launch of 'What Do You Say UK?' was the first time Tourism
New Zealand had created a brand, logo and campaign content that
could be shared with the travel trade in market. Travel agents,
operators and the country's national airline, Air New Zealand, have
all embraced the campaign, using it on their websites, in brochures
and in-store to clearly link their products to the experiences
promoted through the campaign.
All advertising continues to direct consumers through to www.newzealand.com/travel/uk-ireland,
where operators are able to post special deals specifically for
British travellers.
Want to know more?
Visit the UK market guide for more
information on this market and latest campaign work, or contact our
London office to find out how you can get
involved.