Tourism Australia invites Americans down under in ‘Dundee’ Superbowl spot via Droga5 New York

During today’s Big Game, viewers will have learned that the much-talked about sequel of an ʼ80s movie, “Dundee: The Son of a Legend Returns Home,” is not a sequel at all. It is actually an elaborate, star-studded advertising campaign aimed at attracting more travelers to visit Australia created by Droga5 New York as Campaign Brief revealed to the world exclusively last week.

The series of teasers and the final 60 and 90 second spots were directed by Australia’s Steve Rogers from Revolver/Will O’Rourke.

Tourism Australia, the government agency responsible for attracting international visitors to Australia, has revealed it is behind the major US marketing campaign.

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Over the past two weeks, excitement for the new Crocodile Dundee movie has been steadily building. Imitating a traditional studio promotional campaign–using PR, social, digital, OOH and the release of four teaser films–anticipation for the new film was widely reported in People, Buzzfeed, Daily Mail, Good Morning America, and the Hollywood Reporter, among others.

Starring Danny McBride and Chris Hemsworth, with a cameo from Paul “Crocodile Dundee” Hogan himself, the 60-second commercial that aired during the second quarter of the Big Game revealed the joke to viewers. What begins as a typical movie trailer slowly and comically unravels, becoming a flagrant excuse to highlight Australia’s dazzling locations and fine array of food and wine.

Presented as a buddy comedy, the movie features Danny McBride as Brian Dundee, the long-lost son of Mick Dundee and Chris Hemsworth as his sidekick, Wally Jr. The all-Australian supporting cast has an impressive roll call of Hollywood heavyweights and homegrown talent, including Hugh Jackman, Margot Robbie, Russell Crowe, Ruby Rose, Liam Hemsworth, Isla Fisher, Luke Bracey and Jessica Mauboy.

The teasers led viewers to believe that Mick “Crocodile” Dundee was lost in the outback, and only the American son no one knew he had would be able to find him. Cue Brian Dundee returning to the Australian outback to find his father. The teaser films and promotional campaign encouraged fans to tune in to see the “official movie trailer” during the Big Game, where the Tourism Australia campaign was ultimately revealed.

Part of its global “There’s Nothing Like Australia” masterbrand campaign, “Dundee: The Son of a Legend Returns Home” represents the biggest campaign Tourism Australia has run in the US since Paul Hogan’s “Come and Say G’Day” campaign in 1984–as well as the largest investment ever made by Australia into a single overseas tourism market. The new US$27 million campaign is aimed at supercharging interest, bookings and spending by American travelers, with the goal of making Australia the most desired destination to visit among US travelers by 2020.

The “Dundee: The Son of a Legend Returns Home” campaign is also supported by Qantas and Wine Australia.

Unlike most Big Game campaigns, today’s commercial is just the beginning of Tourism Australia’s 2018 marketing push. A distinct suite of online films–titled “Why Australia?”–featuring Danny “Dundee” McBride were developed in parallel. They will live on Australia.com and are designed to convert attention into action by retargeting the audience who engaged with the “Dundee” teaser content. The series of lighthearted films see fellow Aussies Chris Hemsworth, Curtis Stone, Matt Wright and Jessica Mauboy help McBride (and all Americans) plan his ideal Australian getaway, providing personal perspectives and unique insights on Australia’s food and wine, nature and wildlife, aquatic and coastal experiences, culture and heritage and sport and events.

Tourism Australia managing director John O’Sullivan said the US was a critical market for Australia, with American visitors spending $3.7 billion in the past 12 months.

Says O’Sullivan: “Despite rating highly in terms of aspiration and intention, we still have more work to do when it comes to converting American interest in Australia into actual visits. That’s the challenge that this new campaign is seeking to address.

“Crocodile Dundee put Australia on the map for Americans in the ’80s. The film helped shape their view of Australia, showing them Australia’s natural beauty and Australians’ friendly and welcoming nature. And it’s still relevant today, with our research showing that Mick ‘Crocodile’ Dundee is still a character Americans believe warmly represents the Australian way of life.”

Tourism Australia chief marketing officer Lisa Ronson said the Big Game provided the perfect platform to grab attention in the US before rolling out the new campaign’s commercial elements in order to convert interest into bookings.

Says Ronson: “The Super Bowl has the largest reach of any advertising platform in the US, with more than 100 million viewers tuning in across America and many more millions globally. Importantly, many viewers are the high-yielding American traveler we specifically target.”

Tourism Australia’s global tourism ambassador Chris Hemsworth said that working on the campaign was a huge honour and also a lot of fun.

Says Hemsworth: “Crocodile Dundee and Hoges did an outstanding job thirty odd years ago of captivating American audiences and putting Australia onto their travel wish lists. I’d like to think the inspiration the film has provided for this new Tourism Australia campaign will ultimately translate into similar success.”

Advertising agency Droga5 New York created the ambitious, integrated “Dundee” campaign. It is the first project Tourism Australia and Droga5 have partnered on together after being awarded the assignment in June 2017. The agency has deep roots in Australia, as founder and creative chairman David Droga is a native Australian.

Says Droga (left): “As an immensely proud Aussie, my goal was for Droga5 to create an audacious, outlandish tourism campaign that only Australia would have the guts to pull off. What makes Australia special isn’t simply the 37,000 miles of beaches, unique wildlife or world-class food and wine–it’s getting those things delivered by a warm, welcoming, irreverent bunch of people. What better platform than one of our most-loved treasures, Crocodile Dundee, which was also one of the best ads for Australia?

“From the strategic rigor and creative development to the production execution and PR approach, the clients have been on this journey with us 100 percent of the way. Partnering with Tourism Australia to bring this idea to life has been an honor.”

Tourism Australia’s global media services agency, UM handled media duties on the project.

Says Daryl Lee, global CEO, UM: “UM is delighted to be partnering with Tourism Australia around this year’s Super Bowl. There couldn’t be a better time in the US for us to celebrate those quintessential Australian values of carefree fun, good humor and epic adventure. We
are very excited to be helping the world get to know the Australia we have all come to know and love at UM.”

Fiona Johnston, chief executive officer, UM Australia said launching a campaign on behalf of Australia on America’s biggest advertising stage had presented its fair share of challenges.

Says Johnston: “With a project like this, ideas need to be bigger than ‘just a spot’ to truly win the night. Countless hours were spent crafting this idea, ensuring every connection was leveraged to its maximum potential, and that the right science and strategy was in place to convert engagement into visitation.

“I’m incredibly proud of our team both in Australia and in the US, and love the fact we work with such progressive clients that support great ideas and show the world what brave marketing can achieve. We look forward to an influx of excited travellers to our beautiful country.”

To explore all the elements of the campaign, please visit www.australia.com and www.australia.com/dundee.

Agency: Droga5 NY

PR Consultant: Kovert Creative