It started with a single Facebook post and quickly became one of TNZ's most successful campaigns – resulting in over 1,000 pieces of media coverage across Australia valued at over AUD$4 million.
WELLINGTON – Tourism New Zealand‘s ‘Make History’ campaign launched earlier this year in a bid to capitalise on the positive attention New Zealand’s passing of the Marriage Amendment Act generated in Australia.
In response, TNZ posted a take on its 100% Pure New Zealand campaign – 100% Pure Choice – to its Australian Facebook page.
The post generated significant interest and sparked the development of the ‘Make History’ campaign – a competition offering the chance to be the first Australian same-sex couple to wed in New Zealand.
“The change of legislation – and the significant attention this created – provided a great platform to further promote New Zealand as a leading wedding and honeymoon destination in our largest visitor market,” said General Manager Australian and Indonesia, Tim Burgess.
“Australian travellers account for just under half of our total visitor arrivals – so the opportunity to gain such widespread exposure was a real win.”
The winning couple were brought to New Zealand in August 2013 to wed on the first day that the legislation came into effect.
To date the campaign has generated 1,150 positive media articles about New Zealand across television, print and radio including broadcast coverage on Channel Seven’s Sunrise (628,000 viewers) and articles on news.com.au (2,685,000visits) and in The Sydney Morning Herald (circulation2,747,000).
“We have also seen an impressive increase in Australian traffic to wedding and honeymoon related content on newzealand.com, recoding a 61 per cent year-on-year increase from June – September 2013.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
