The campaign initially searched worldwide for applicants for the Best Job in the World, an Island Caretaker for the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef. Offer: AUD $150,000 salary, six month role, live in luxury accommodation on Hamilton Island. The position discovers and reports back to a global audience what the region offers, to achieve promotion and increase consumer awareness and visitation to the destination. On 11Jan09, a six week application period launched, receiving extensive media and online attention. 34,684 applicants from almost 200 countries uploaded video applications. 50 applicants were chosen, then they were narrowed to15 applicants. The 15 applicants and a publicly voted “wildcard” candidate were flown to Hamilton Island in May for the final selection event. After a series of activities/interviews to assess who was best for the job, Ben Southall, a 34 year-old charity events organizer from the UK was appointed the Island Caretaker, commencing his role on 1July09.

The campaign’s primary objective was to raise consumer awareness of the “Islands of the Great Barrier Reef” in Tourism Queensland’s key markets via promoting the Best Job in the World, as a hook to gain worldwide media and consumer interest. The campaign’s secondary objectives were: • Drive website visitation through the provision of engaging and interactive content about the destination • Position the “Islands of the Great Barrier Reef” as a highly aspirational destination among the target audience through global awareness and engagement • Provide an opportunity for international offices to engage local partners and trade in tactical activity • Use media and social networking avenues to promote the campaign and increase awareness of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef and Queensland generally

The target audience was defined as ‘Global Experience Seekers’. These people are likely to be self-challengers, youthful travelers, have high education, have access and use new technology, and have a preference for holiday immersion – they want to ‘get amongst it’ and move beyond major cities. These people were primarily targeted across key markets that have a higher propensity to travel to Australia (UK, Europe, USA, Japan, Germany, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Ireland & Nordic regions, Singapore, Malaysia, India, China, Taiwan, and Korea). Target market size 37.5 million.

Desktop research prior to development of a 2007 campaign drawing results from Tourism Research Australia's International Visitor Surveys, industry workshops, stakeholder consultation and global trends insights. Agencys:CuminsNitro, Mitchell & Partners, XCOM Media, Livingstones Australia. Pre production Jun08-11Jan09 •Collateral production •Partners •Job •Website •Audio visual •PR strategy Recruitment 11Jan-22Feb •Place job ads •PR offensive •Media visits •Tactical marketing •Visitors apply online/view updated stream of videos Shortlisting 4-6 weeks •Review applications •Wildcard voting •Top 50 applicants own campaigning Applicants Interviewed 1-6May in QLD •Interview panel and challenges–media visual •Media/industry events Successful applicant announced 6May •Announcement •Media opportunities of successful applicant Winner Logistics 6 weeks •Finalize job contract, lodging, visas Employment 1July-31December •Employee requirements •Salary •PR campaign in employee market

The campaign initially focused on the worldwide search for applicants for the Best Job in the World - Caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef. The Caretaker would discover and report back to a worldwide audience what the region offers – promoting the destination by first-hand reports increasing consumer awareness and visitation preference. No single tourism campaign, and potentially no single campaign, has ever had such a significant reach globally, across all modern media formats and generated such a high volume and highly impassioned response. The campaign generated unprecedented national and international consumer and media exposure for the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef and Queensland, and firmly positioned both as desirable destinations. The extensive worldwide interest has benefited local tourism operators with increased profile and consumer demand that is now starting to be converted into sales.

Measures of success like passion/creativity of people’s created videos, blogs, individual campaigns are immeasurable. Measurable effectiveness: •Wanted 400K unique website visitation to IslandReefJob.com. Result: 6,800,046 •Wanted 10K job applications. Result: over 34K from 197 countries which is over 610 hours of user generated content •Global news coverage, from CNN to BBC documentaries, to Time magazine articles and everything in between. Coverage valued over AUD$370 million •Campaign reached an audience of over 3Billion via media coverage •Commercial success for our industry/tour operator partners reporting an increase in bookings and share of the Australian market over campaign period •Web stats of over 8.1 million visits, 53,889,455 page views with 8.25 minutes average time spent •Over 475,000 Wild Card votes •Google “best job in the world island” search achieves about 43,603 news listings and generates 231,355 blogs •Social networks established with masses of digital content

The San Diego Zoo is in the heart of one of the most competitive market for theme parks. Dominated by Disney, the market also sees significant pressure from parks attractive to older kids like Six Flags Valencia and Knott’s Berry Farm, and corporate backed giants like Sea World and Legoland. Additionally, the year-round nice weather offers significant “share of time” pressure from various beaches, boardwalks and small local diversions. The only thing a local or visitor in the Southern California area is missing is time to do it all! Additionally, the ZSSD is a non-profit organization with an advertising budget that is only a percentage of the “bigger attractions” and is split between two parks. To compete we have to be more creative than the competition. However we do this within the context of a zoo. Our mission is to spread the message of conservation of the world’s animals and habitat for future generations (without thrill rides, branded characters or blockbuster movies to help!)

The ultimate goal of the ZSSD is to spread the message of conservation. This is mostly accomplished through the interpretive elements at each park. The goal of this particular campaign however is attendance, with each component playing a different specific role. These include: Advertising: Cut through the cluttered media environment and create excitement among potential Zoo goers for the Elephant Odyssey launch and throughout the summer. PR: To create a massive national media splash paving the way for the launch of Elephant Odyssey Social Media: Create forums where the conversation started through PR and advertising efforts can continue. This campaign needed to both give a reason for locals to visit this Zoo this summer and ensure visitors to San Diego did not pass on the Zoo as a must do experience in San Diego

Primarily, young kids and tweens, between 6 and 14. Boys in particular are fascinated by prehistoric animals, and will certainly enjoy the hands-on nature of this exhibit. These kids have lots of high energy distractions; iPods, computers, X Box, Playstations, soccer and baseball. When they go out with their families, they prefer thrilling destinations like Six Flags, where they can let off steam. A zoo seems quite tame in comparison. But we know they are often passionate about prehistoric animals, and the idea that Southern California used to be populated by mammoths and saber tooth cats is our hook to intrigue them. Their parents, on the other hand, love zoos, because they see them as places of learning, as well as a nice day out for everyone in the family, young and old. For them, this exhibit combines lots of interactivity with small doses of education!

M&C Saatchi created the advertising elements, which included television, radio, print, outdoor and online media. The campaign features “Phil” and “Harry” a pair of computer generated mammoths living the good life in Southern California circa 12,000 B.C. Production included creating complete mammoths using the top Hollywood CG animators and layering them against actual background footage of Southern California. Print used similar techniques. Significant quantitative research was used to identify paid media opportunities in San Diego and Los Angeles, with the goal of reminding locals why they need to visit again this year and convince those visiting the area why they should spend precious time and money on a day at the Zoo.

The key message of the campaign is that after 12,000 years, mammoths/elephants are finally back in Southern California. Whether getting trapped by the dangers of the day or fighting back against them, the messages of the campaign work hard to amuse and entertain both our youth and adult targets and allude to the higher order message of the exhibit. The tone and humor of the advertising was designed to emulate both the whimsy and message of the exhibit… a bit of something for kids and parents alike. Of course, always keeping in mind our main goal of creating interest and inspiring visitation.

We have measured our success to date in many ways: Zoo attendance increase Thus far our attendance has increased 4% over 2008 - outstanding during a time when other zoos and attractions are down 15 to 20% in attendance. Website/internet traffic We grew from 2,000 Facebook fans to over 31,000 during the campaign; Twitter followers grew from 200 to 2,000. EO micro site has had 214,000 Unique Visitors, 301,000 sessions, and 981,000 page views since it launched April 1 (data as of August 1). Over 1.3 million video views on our site this year, currently most popular are the Elephant Odyssey videos (Mudbath TV spot generated 173,000 views in July alone)

The Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau (ACVB) has produced holiday cards each December to send to clients and industry partners. ACVB produces printed cards to mail and has produced an e-card utilizing flash or standard HTML for the past several years. This past holiday season, ACVB wanted to create a video with our holiday message for the electronic card. The idea was that the video content would be compelling and engaging enough to capitalize on the trend of viral videos to increase exposure to Albuquerque.

The objective of the project was to create a fun and informative holiday-themed video that showcased Albuquerque as a destination with a message from ACVB staff to our audiences (visitors, meeting planners, media, travel trade, national industry and local partners). The video was produced with the intent that it would intrigue audiences to open and watch the online video and make the video content compelling enough to forward to others (viral marketing). Another objective of the web video was for viewers to click on additional links for more information on Albuquerque’s holiday events and to consider Albuquerque as a destination for the holidays.

Our main visitor target is a 45-65 year-old couple (with the female making the travel plans). They are well-educated with a household income of $80,000+. They live in a neighboring state or a city that offers a direct flight or a short drive. They are well-traveled and look for a feeling of discovery. They are adventurous, flexible and early-risers. They like to visit historical sites and natural attractions, take scenic drives, attend festivals/celebrations, go to museums, and immerse themselves in local culture. They are looking for an authentic experience when they travel. Additional targets include local and national hospitality industry colleagues and partners, meeting planners, media, and travel trade professionals whose demographics align closely with the main visitor target.

ACVB research showed that the most successful videos are less than three minutes and have content that is entertaining and relevant. ACVB brainstormed and developed a script and storyboard with special consideration to keep the video short. We purchased stock photography and shot new footage including a message from ACVB staff. ACVB utilized the voice talent of our President/CEO to do the narration, which added a personal touch because many industry partners recognized his voice. We selected and purchased stock music that had a Southwestern flair. An e-mail message with the video link was designed to send to our various client lists and given to staff to send individually with the special URL of www.itsatriorg/seasonsgreetings. The video was produced in a one-month timeline to be ready by December 12 so the relevancy of the holiday message had time to propagate. The staff video shoot produced an outtakes video posted as a link on the page with the main video.

The two-minute video conveys everything that happens in the life of a brown paper bag including the most beautiful example of a holiday luminaria in Albuquerque. The topic was selected to demonstrate the unique holiday tradition in New Mexico of lining rooftops and pathways with bags filled with sand and a candle called luminarias. The video brings this topic to life in a distinctive and humors way. Special emphasis was placed on making a video with entertaining and compelling content that the target audiences would want to forward to others. The video begins with humor and ends with a strong Albuquerque promotional message and holiday wishes from the ACVB staff. The video content is unique to Albuquerque as luminarias are a Southwestern holiday tradition. The staff of ACVB is featured at the close of the video to personalize the holiday greetings message.

This was the most effective holiday message ACVB has ever implemented. The web video received 6,799 views with 2,793 unique visitors for the 19 days it was live in December. This accounted for 50% of the total video views of all 22 videos on our website. In December, the video webpage was the third most-viewed page on the site with 4,145 views and the linked holiday events page was the fifth most-viewed page with 3,296 views. E-mail open rates: Visitors 17.4% Travel Trade 19.6% Media 29.8% Partners 28.2% ACVB received many positive replies; some from those who were forwarded the video, proving that it went viral including: Roger J. Dow, President & CEO of the Travel Industry Association of America: “I LOVED your brown bag holiday video. Creative, engaging and unique to Albuquerque.” Jim Brody of TripAdvisor in his e-newsletter: “Albuquerque Goes Viral for the Holiday: The Albuquerque CVB has released a terrific video for the holiday season that beautifully promotes the area."