The third phase of Tourism New Zealand's opinion leader campaign
in China kicked off mid-March with 'Yao Chen's 100% revival
tour'.
It builds on the previous two phases of activity where consumers
were able to follow multi-award winning actress and New Zealand
'ambassador' Yao Chen on her New Zealand travels before being
prompted to experience their own revival tour.
Acting General Manager Asian Markets Kate Necklen says the use
of opinion leaders is about using Chinese influencers to tell the
New Zealand story to Chinese people.
"The activity to date has driven record numbers of visits to
newzealand.com and a high number of referrals.
"Our research also tells us that the connection between New
Zealand and the key brand attributes of 'have fun and enjoy
yourself', 'a popular destination', 'a place that people like me
want to visit' and 'relax and feel rejuvenated' have increased to
all time highs in China."
This time around the campaign will present 'Yao Chen's New
Zealand' in the context of the four emotional benefits delivered in
a holiday here - happiness, relaxation, excitement and romance.
Campaign pages on newzealand.com allow users to select their
most desired emotion before being shown unique New Zealand holidays
to suit, as experienced by Yao Chen.
The users are also given suggested itineraries and products,
airfare offers and New Zealand operators' information to drive a
desire to travel, into actual bookings.
Kate says, "Our research tells us that Chinese travellers want a
holiday destination where they can feel happy, relaxed,
rejuvenated."
The campaign is being run with partners Air New Zealand, China
Southern Airlines and Singapore Airlines as well as local travel
agents and New Zealand operators to offer deals and conversion
opportunities.
An additional Air New Zealand and Tourism New Zealand joint
venture campaign will run alongside Yao Chen's 100% revival tour,
further utilising Yao Chen and fellow Air NZ opinion leader Kevin
Tsai - who are number one and five respectively on the massive
Chinese micro-blog site Weibo.
By describing the 100% Pure New Zealand experiences of the two
opinion leaders, the campaign aims to generate bookings over the
low season.
"By partnering with others we can extend the reach and influence
of our campaigns."
Both campaigns will run through to the end of June.