‘It’s about time’: Tourism NT urges people to start planning their holiday before it’s too late in new integrated campaign via Common Ventures
Tourism Northern Territory and its creative agency Common Ventures have launched a new campaign that disrupts traditional Tourism marketing, interrupting viewer attention to leave them with a sense of urgency to plan their holiday to the NT before it’s too late.
‘It’s About Time’ is an integrated campaign that includes brand and regional TVCs, print, digital and social media and is an extension of the current brand positioning ‘Do the NT’. As the hero creative, the TVC steers away from the conventional structure of tourism advertisement and uses three key components to create a strong, compelling story arc – the concept of limited time, the humour and larrikin persona of the NT and the current brand positioning of ‘Do the NT’.
Tourism NT’s director of domestic marketing Tony Quarmby said that the campaign builds on the progress that has been made through ‘Do the NT’ since the brand was launched in 2013.
Says Quarmby: “We’ve seen success from the change in brand direction with a 6% increase in domestic holiday visitation and nearly a 50% increase in brand awareness amongst our core target market over the last two years. This new phase in the ‘Do the NT’ brand evolution focuses on the element of Time.
“The Northern Territory needed to remove the sweeping landscapes, passive activities and operatic anthems and replace them with real and accessible experiences, so that consumers can relate to the destination and be motivated to be a part of it. In addition to making a visual departure from the norm, the strategic direction and creative execution also needed to leave the audience with a strong sense of urgency and excitement to book a trip sooner rather than later.”
The strategic territory for this new phase of the ‘Do the NT’ brand originated from the limitations and transient nature of Time. When it comes to booking a trip, most decisions rest upon one ever-present factor – time. From not having enough of it to not wanting to waste a single second; every trip is dreamed up and booked in with the promise that it will be easy to enjoy and hard to forget.
Brian Merrifield, executive creative director of Common Ventures said the new strategic direction, ‘It’s About Time’ will change the mindset of potential domestic travellers.
Says Merrifield: “By focusing on time and the havoc it plays with our holiday decision process, the campaign is aimed to speak to anyone and everyone who has ever wanted to visit the NT. With a strong focus on the transient nature of our lives, our mindset of taking the trip ‘some day’ quickly changes to ‘It’s about time’. By leveraging the impact limited time has, this campaign will hopefully spark a pivotal behavioural change in the thought process around planning, booking and travelling to the Northern Territory. Rather than putting it off until the next big trip or thinking a weekend away is not enough, the campaign is designed to prove that now is the best time to get away and any doubts you have can quickly be dispelled in a simple sentence – ‘Life’s too short’.”
Together, the Tourism NT Marketing team and Common Ventures worked closely with NT industry operators and suppliers to capture the uniqueness of the region. Sydney production house, Milk Money and Darwin based, Simon Says TV both played a pivotal role in bringing the TVC component of the campaign to life. Tourism NT’s PR agency, Kite Communications were also engaged to develop and execute the PR activities that helped support and promote the campaign.
6 Comments
That doesn’t work, as well as being a little dull and long (someone doesn’t get the modern attention). Strategically not bad, creatively weak.
Nice. I actually like them.
disrupts?
disrupts!
buzzwords r cool.
Love these. Grabs my attention and well put together. Punters will think they’re great.
A reputable director would have given these real life.
That’s a long 30 seconds of cheesy crap to sit through. Halfway through the first spot I was skipping ahead to see if there was anything remotely interesting in the last 5 seconds. Alas, there was just a really complicated lockup.