I hope they've done focus groups.

I wonder if he'll have Nicole running through Nashville with a kangaroo under her arm. She could then pass it on to Hugh who could run through Broadway.

Brilliant.

This is a positive step in the right direction. Rock solid. Very exciting.

Please God tell me it isn't true. The trailers on Qantas have been bad enough!

4:34 - You fly Qantas? Good thing you know how to pray.

Sorry to post this question here, but does anyone know what happened to the Bonds posting?

Why can't we find a client who's prepared to blow $50 million on a stop-gap ad campaign?

Baz Luhrmann did Moulin Rouge

They don't bother me with the trailers up the pointy end.

"He (Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson) added that Tourism Australia's last campaign, "where the bloody hell are you?", had been a "dismal failure" in some markets such as Asia."

But don't worry..

"We think this will be hugely successful.."

Let's get the girly man campaign out of the way early.

Arnie

I think he'll surprise a lot of people. Who knows, a guy writing an ad not for the sole purpose of winning an award or furthering his career!?

Wow!

Well done DDB cant wait to see the big idea

4.25

I'd have gone for Tom Burlinson and Sigrid Thornton.
Guest appearance by Kirk Douglas.

This is a $50 million campaign.

DDB will be lucky if they get to do a strip ad in the next couple of years.

6.11, read the story properly.

You're all boring. as batshit Get a life folks.

Well at least it gives DDB a year to come with a big idea for a big client....something they're not used to.

A bonus for Baz Luhrmannnn. Brilliant, one big promotion for his film. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

There's no mention of Bruce n the article. Isn't Baz going to direct these?
That would make more sense. At least that's how it reads.

DDBrushed Aside.

Whatever, I'm sure they'll come up with nice ways to "multichannel" that idea and working out how they'll expand the 'Your Australia is Waiting' line they've got coming up.

Even the pollies don't trust the advertising industry to come up with a decent ad.
Maybe they've been logging on to this blog. Or maybe they don't trust DDB to come up with the goods.

Why use DDB when you have Baz? I hope it's better than the last TVC he did with Nicole.

Could be good. if bruce is involved it'll certainly look awesome. Great score Bruce.
Jas

Getting BL to direct a tourism campaign for $50mill.... Just hope the movie doesn't stink...otherwise Australia could end up being a little on the nose too...actually this whole idea is a little stinky too!

For Australias sake, I hope DDB come up with the idea though... otherwise we could have some fruity little Kangaroos running (or in this case ..jumping) around in Can Can skirts with massively over produced sets...and a duet!

Maybe DDB's idea was to get Baz to do everything for them.

Isn't that what all the 'progressive' agencies do these days?

Maybe there just isn't a creative at DDB with enough real writing calibre to tackle Tourism Australia? Australia the movie is cliched shite too.

I hate to be a killjoy, but a mate of mine worked on the film and says it's pretty awful.

The Dark Knight's got people queuing down the street because it's dark as hell, acted to perfection and has a great story.

Can you imagine anyone queuing up to see Nicole Kidman pacing around the outback?

Unfortunately for DDB, putting all your eggs in the Australia basket means if the film fails, which by all accounts it could, Australia's embarrassment will be seen on billboards throughout the world.

DD BAZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

9.22... Not too far from the truth.

Baz Luhrmann. The Barbara Cartland of film direction.

I know PLENTY of people who worked on the matrix too and they all said that would be a stinker, but it seems to have caught on somewhat and hasnt done too badly for australia OS film cred. And Baz's other films have hardly been bad.. yes polarising and different but thats a good thing in my book

Seriously, Australia the film isn't (or shouldn't) be aimed at Australian audiences. It looks like a complete pisstake of those melodramas from the 80's (Sigrid, Tom et al) and so it looks like crap. The success of that tourism campaign would seem to be tied pretty heavily to the relative success of the film.

Yeah, but the Matrix had slow motion bullets and fighting, Australia's gonna have people cattle dogs and people dancing around campfires.

Sod that.

I heard Baz came through the DDB Launchpad program.

Monty, how many ideas did Baz bring to you for appraisal? Was this the best?

12:20PM

I heard he actually started at DDB as a suit.

49m for Baz. 1m for DDB.

I think Baz's 1st ad should be an ad that asks The Australian People which of 3 amazing ideas should he make. Of course he'll ignore the public's response and make the ad he feels like making.

10.49 – Then there should be no problem with it? If the ad flops, it's Bazza's fault?

Thinking of Australian Tourism campaigns, and living with a few international types we're still recovering from the 'shrimp on the barbie' stuff of the 80s. The tired clichés in our overseas ads have turned us into a country perceived similar to the new commonwealth bank ads.

Strategically, I'd position an Australia people haven't seen – Surry hills at 6am in the morning. But then again, I'm not from overseas, and I probably think of Australia as beautiful stock shots of red sand and Kangaroos jumping around.

Hope it sells, we need the ca$h. And I need more hot backpackers.

BAZ 50 DDB 0

6am in the morning? Fuckwit.

Wow, let's base our 50million dollar tourism campaign off a movie set in the middle-of-nowhere pre-WW2 era... fantastic way to sell the modern Australia folks.

Bloody hell... talk about trying to change people's perceptions of what our country can offer. Can we PLEASE grow the fuck up and get real?

I think DDB will do a great job.

They are one of the few agencies with a truly global perspective.

Their ECD has extensive international experience, which will stand the agency in great stead.

Moreover, since when did we care about media budgets rather than creative ideas?

Can't Baz just edit together the opening scenes from the Comm bank campaign? Shouldn't cost more than 48mill.

I'm hoping they'll record the soundtrack to this blockbuster ad with 'ultrasonic frequencies' so myself and my fellow canine pals can tune in and listen in earnest.

2:12pm sorry, being a junior or very senior creative, warehouses near redfern at 6am are probably a little past your beddie time. But I wouldn't expect you to know modern Australia judging by your west of Glebe language skills.

2.38.
One thinks you need to take the blinkers off. Your a tosser.

8:11 \ 2:12 if you dabble in performance enhancing substances on the weekend it's probably best not to blog on a Wednesday afternoon.

That movie better be a hit or DDB is going down with the new marketing team at Tourism Australia.

On a positive note, DDB clearly have the 2008 "Agency of the Year" Awards now.. throw in the supposed "$180m" win of TA, add in a few Hasbro and Tonka ads, talk about some "breakthrough" channel-planning divisions and you're in!

Who cares if there's no money in Tourism Australia? We all know AV Jennings pay the bills at DDB

Since when has DDB or Saatchi's for that matter ever been good without scam?

Talk about glass houses. The spate of ex DDB staffers bagging the current set up did exactly the same, only a little bit worse and are doing far worse now trying to replicate the formula.

Get over yourselves.

In the words of a very senior person, a week after I resigned 'everyone always comes back to DDB. Except the ones we'd rather not have.'

Ain't it true boys.

On the shoot, the crew on Star Wars didn't think much of it apparently.

Bruce Hunt's an excellent director. Well done.

That's unquestionably true, 3:10.

The question is, what sort of a writer is Baz L?

And how on earth did this happen?

Shame ad industry, shame.

You're all so importany aren't you.

Get on with your lives.

These spots will be promos for Baz's film. He should direct them.

The Barbara Cartland of film directors - current leader in put-down of the year.

Hey everyone, scroll back to 10.23.
He's/she's bagging Baz, Nicole and their Chanel commercial.
Now heap shit on him/her, not this idea of plugging into one of Australia's most amazing directors/writers to get Australian Tourism back on track.
This blog makes me sad.
t should have a firewall that prevents hacks bagging Oscar winning people.

If 9:09 can find anyone other than friends and family of Baz and crew who watched Moulon Rouge from start to finish I'll gladly retract Barbara Cartland analogy.

Hey .145.
Moulin Rouge grossed world wide just on $179,000,000 (I think that was to 2001)
How's your short film going?

Not only has 3:22 scored a fatal hit on 1:45, but I thought Moulin Rouge was a bloody good film.

But then, I was off my tits on some very good grass at the time.

9.22am

history is a wonderful thing,

yonks ago legas delaney got john cleese to do everything for them for sony. that was their idea.

won many awards including d&ad