From Cape Reinga to The Catlins, Tourism New Zealand's 'Have
Your Say' mobile recording studio will be scouring the country
collecting visitors' stories of their time in New Zealand this
summer.
Tourism New Zealand believes the initiative is a world-first for
a national tourism body: a fully-equipped mobile studio that can
capture international visitor's thoughts and feelings about New
Zealand on camera, edit it with their own photos and video footage
and post it on to social networking sites all within minutes.
The concept is the next step in the 'What Do You Say, UK?'
campaign, which launched in the UK in September. The campaign is
based on research that found word-of-mouth recommendations are
among the strongest motivators for British travellers when they are
thinking about a holiday in New Zealand.
"We are not waiting around to see someone else try these things
first," says Tourism New Zealand General Manager Consumer Marketing
Catherine Bates. "These days people of all ages and walks of life
are using social networking to keep in touch with friends and
family when they are on holiday. We want to be at the leading edge
of getting into that marketing space."
The mobile studio will take to the road in December around the
Auckland region. After Christmas, it will begin a nationwide tour
making around 40 stops in towns around New Zealand. The goal is to
record about 3,500 video diary clips during the tour.
Visitors' 'raves' will be published immediately into unpaid
media channels, including a YouTube 'Have Your Say' channel which is then
fed on to Tourism New Zealand's consumer website - www.newzealand.com. Visitors
will be able to post video directly onto their Facebook profile
pages. Tourism New Zealand will also use the raves in future
advertising campaigns.
"If every video diary clip is viewed by five or six family and
friends, that is great cost-effective marketing in a way we already
know resonates best with our target UK market," says Catherine
Bates.
Tourism New Zealand is currently working with Regional Toursim
Organisations around New Zealand to finalise the schedule for the
mobile studio and the places it will be located.