Tourism Recovery in NSW driven by Aussie music stars and audience insights in new campaign via Emotive and Havas

Chart topping Australian musicians including Guy Sebastian, Amy Shark and Troy Cassar-Daley, combined with rich data from travel intenders, fuel a new digital marketing campaign launched today by Destination NSW geared at driving Australian travellers to take a road trip in New South Wales via Emotive, Havas Media and Havas Sports and Entertainment Australia.

 

Informed by audience insights captured through consumer travel websites, Sydney.com and Visitnsw.com, the Road Trips campaign uses the top searched items, content types and experience categories to guide every element to deliver tools and information that is most sought after by visitors to the Destination NSW operated sites.

Musicians were identified to spearhead the campaign based on Roy Morgan persona data, which revealed the important role music plays on a road trip and consumer interest in road tripping to view live music.

Destination NSW chief executive officer Steve Cox said the road trips program is an important step in ensuring long term recovery of the tourism industry, and encourages locals and interstate visitors to take a road trip with family or friends and experience parts of NSW they may not have visited before.

Says Cox: “All travellers are welcome in NSW and now is the time for them to lock in their next great escape with a road trip across NSW to support those tourism businesses who have faced such a challenging year. Our focus is on fast tracking the recovery of local communities by delivering marketing programs that get people travelling across NSW.

“There are 28 incredible road trip itineraries to choose from on Visitnsw.com, with options for trips from one to five-plus days right across the state. Exploring by road is a great way to meet the locals, discover hidden gems along the way and see NSW as you’ve never seen it before.”

Developed to support the local tourism businesses and operators in areas of NSW affected by drought, bushfires and COVID-19, Road Trips will see the following components rolled out over the coming months:

• A six-part YouTube video content series, The Long Road, hosted by TV and radio personality Ash London featuring critically acclaimed musicians Amy Shark, Guy Sebastian, Troy Cassar-Daley, Connie Mitchell from Sneaky Sound System, Baden Donegal from Ocean Alley and Polish Club touring some of the state’s top road trips.
• Geo-targeted domestic advertising including digital, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Spotify and digital publishers such as We Are Explorers 
• Cooperative marketing campaigns with partners including TripAdvisor, Kayak, Helloworld, Welcome to Country and Wotif to drive bookings and a consumer competition delivered by TripAdvisor in partnership with Tesla to win a NSW road trip with a Tesla Model 3
• An influencer marketing program designed to stimulate advocacy and visitor interest through their first-hand experiences across the state
• New landing pages featuring all 28 road trip itineraries on VisitNSW.com and Sydney.com which can be searched by interest area, duration or region. Each itinerary includes an interactive, sharable and downloadable map, points of interest along the route, links to popular tourism businesses, and an indication of drive time from Sydney or the nearest airport.
• Content partnerships with major news media including News Limited, Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Weekend, The Guardian and Australian Traveller.

In a first for the travel category in Australia, Road Trips will also include a strategic partnership with Google My Business to measure the impact of the campaign on footfall.

Head of communications strategy at Havas Media, Nick Kavanagh, the media agency who developed Road Trips in partnership with Destination NSW, said the campaign reinforces Destination NSW’s position as Australia’s leading destination marketing organization.

Says Kavanagh: “Now more than ever, brands must deliver personalized marketing that is tailored to audiences and their individual needs. It’s refreshing to work with a client who understands this and realises the need to look beyond the traditional box of marketing tactics usually employed by brands.

Says Francis Coady, general manager/executive producer, Havas Sports and Entertainment Australia [Series executive producer, The Long Road]: “It’s been a privilege to work with some of the finest entertainment talent in the country, a trusting and adventurous client and a hardworking and passionate crew to showcase the varied beauty of NSW. We know these stories will encourage people to travel again and we are thrilled to be able to support small businesses across the state, who have been so affected these past few years.”

ARIA-winner Amy Shark was blown away by her experience along the Darling River Run through Outback NSW, which stretches from Walgett to Wentworth via Tilpa, Wilcannia, Menindee and more.

Says Shark: “It’s been such an incredible and rewarding experience to be part of The Long Road. Taking the time to meet the locals, hear their stories and see where they call home, has been amazing.

“I never thought I would ever visit the Darling River Run, Broken Hill and the surrounding areas and now I can’t wait to come back!”

For more info on Road Trips go to VisitNSW.com.  To view The Long Road video series on YouTube go to www.youtube.com/VisitNSW.

Share your favourite NSW Road Trips on social media by using the hashtag #LoveNSW and #NewSouthWales.

Visitors, locals and businesses are reminded to stay COVID safe by maintaining social distancing, good hygiene and staying home if unwell. For more information www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19

Destination NSW – lead Government agency for the State’s tourism and major events industry:
Director, Digital Marketing: Nathan Ting
Digital Marketing: Jenny Gerada (Content) / Oliver Black (UX Design) / Nina Malmstrom (Development) / David Hernandez (Performance)

Havas Media Group ANZ – communications strategy, media planning & buying, data analytics, performance marketing 

Head of Communications Strategy: Nick Kavanagh

Group Business Director: Catherine Edghill

Data and Analytics Director: Dan Taylor

Senior Account Manager: Luisa Dalli

Havas Sports & Entertainment – The Long Road content ideation & production management 

Series creator / Executive Producer: Francis Coady

Production Co-ordinator / AE: Madeline Symonds

Music Supervision: Francis Coady 

Music clearance: Belinda Yates 

Emotive – content production 

Creative Director: Tim Seller, Rory Pearson

Copywriter: Dan Mansour

Art Director: Alex King
Business Director: Monika Vidovic
Executive Producer (Production): Hayley-Ritz Pelling
Senior Producers: Gemma Atkinson, Michael Hollis

Line Producer: Kimber Sykes
Location Managers: Kassie McDonald, Rose Vallentine,  Faiza Hadi

Director: Tim Seller
DP: Rupert Critchley

Drone: Mitchel Loveday

Photography: Rocket Weijers Uren

COVID Marshall: Sam Brown

Sound Recordist: Patrick Mullins

Hair & Make-Up Artist: Carla Mico

Wardrobe: Lauren Boutros
Editor: Tim Seller, Kent Hau, Spencer Austad, Ben Kucharski

Colourist: Matt Fezz
Sound Post Production: Rumble Studios