Tourism New Zealand's activity to engage with the influential
youth market has gained strong momentum with record votes for the
latest Stories Beat Stuff competition.
Launched in April with a raft of new online and social media
features, phase two once again challenged entrants to give up their
prized possessions to be in to win one of two amazing 100% 'Story
of a lifetime' experiences.
In less time, and with less media spend, results to date are
already comparable to those of phase one, generating a combined
100,000 unique visits to the campaign pages and 100% Pure Facebook page. The
videos of the first two experiences have also received 100,000
views on YouTube - up from 50,000 at the end of phase one.
A total of 350 entries were received for the latest two
experiences and attracted 4,500 votes from the main target markets
of Germany, UK, USA, Australia and Canada.
This week the winners of the latest two experiences from phase
two were announced and will soon be winging their way to New
Zealand for an experience of a lifetime.
"Our activity to target the global youth market is focused on
improving the perception of New Zealand as a fun and
popular destination and increase youth arrivals," says Tourism
New Zealand's General Manager Marketing Communications Justin
Watson.
"With the results tracking as they are, we know that we are
engaging with this market in a way that really resonates with them
and will continue to deliver results."
Four lucky winners from Canada will arrive this week to enjoy
New Zealand's legendary snow and ski for the Winter Highlife experience. The Natural Goodness winners from Germany, will
arrive in July to experience all the natural wonders and outdoor
activities the South Island has to offer. You can view the
reactions of the winners here.
The winners will keep the wider global youth market updated
with their experiences while they are in New Zealand with regular
blogs on newzealand.com campaign pages - fully
integrated with Facebook and YouTube to make sharing easier.
Justin explains: "Increasing the number of friends the winners
can bring from one to three widens the potential social network
that can be reached.
"The material provided from the online updates and blogs,
alongside the videos that are filmed while the winners are in New
Zealand, provides strong material to continue our engagement with
the youth market.
"We have already seen this work with the videos of the first two
experiences receiving huge interest form entrants. This is really
positive as these videos show youth experiencing the unique New
Zealand product for themselves - bringing it to life. These will
continue to attract interest as the campaign is rolled out and we
build on the material with new footage from phase two."
From Canada, Jeremy and Rob traded their Pontiac time machine to
win the Winter Highlife experience. They will make a
cash donation to the British Columbia Children's hospital before
travelling to New Zealand with two friends to enjoy a ski trip
across the South and North Islands, starting with a bang at the
Queenstown Winter Festival.
The Natural Goodness winners from Germany, Charlyn
and her three friends, traded their entire shoe collection for the
chance to enjoy all the natural experiences New Zealand is known
for the world over. This will include hiking, glacier climbs,
rafting and kayaking with dolphins.
The third and final phase of Stories Beat Stuff is currently
being prepared and will be launched to the in August.
To follow the winners during their time in New Zealand visit the
Stories Beat Stuff campaign page, and find out Tourism New
Zealand's Youth Market strategy here.