Banking On Australia

Newcastle Herald

Tuesday October 14, 2008

Chris Watson

Banking on Australia

The fast-approaching and much-anticipated Baz Luhrmann movie

Australia has a lot hanging on its success, particularly for Tourism

Australia which is convinced its stunning outback vistas will have

travellers fl ocking Down Under.

An internationally renowned writer, producer and director,

Luhrmann has conceived and produced a special international

campaign for Tourism Australia, running from this month for several

months in Tourism Australias international markets, and coinciding

with the world-wide marketing and release of Australia in November.

Tourism Australia is hoping the weight of the fi lm, starring Nicole

Kidman and Hugh Jackman, and its $50 million campaign will provide

Australia with its most powerful push in decades.

The campaign, which will feature in cinemas, television, online and

in print with separate versions for western and eastern consumption,

will roll out in the United Kingdom fi rst, then in Tourism Australias 23

major international markets, including the USA and Asia.

Australias $85 billion tourism industry is, like many countries,

experiencing slower growth because of rising oil prices and

tightening economic conditions around the world.

Australian tourism chiefs believe the outback epic can boost

visitor numbers in the same way Crocodile Dundee ushered

in a cash bonanza in the 1980s. The movie will potentially be

seen by tens of millions of people and will bring to life

little-known aspects of Australias extraordinary natural

environment, history and indigenous culture.

When Tourism Australia came to us, we were reticent at

fi rst because we did not want to confuse the promotion of

the fi lm with a tourism campaign, Luhrmann said. The

more we talked, the more I realised that we both had the

same aims; to celebrate the truly unique and transformative

power of this ancient and extraordinary continent. With this in

mind, we agreed to put our team into the conception

and realisation of a contemporary campaign which, while

not aping the fi lm, refl ects this singular and

attractive truth.

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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