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Do you remember the ‘Where the bloody hell are you ads’ which became more famous for Lara Bingles use of the word ‘bloody’ instead of the content itself?
Well, the guys at the Australian tourism office have kicked off a new and (in my opinion) very fresh looking walkabout campaign which markets Australia as the antidote to the stresses and strains of modern day life.
The two new tourism advertisements, set to accompany the new film ‘Australia‘ and created by the same film maker Baz Luhrmann were revealed to the tourism industry this week.
Unlike previous ads which simply let the location steal the show, in Luhrmann’s advertisements, it is busy professionals and the transforming experience of a visit to Australia that form the narrative.
In one of the ads, a professional woman is shown tramping the streets of a rainy New York on the verge of a meltdown as she and her partner desperately try to bring back a sense of joy to their lives.
“It’s always work. You’re not the same person I fell in love with,” says her partner down the phone, as a slightly depressing musical score plays in the background.
It is only through the intervention of an Aboriginal boy and a little magic sand that she is persuaded to take a break with the child whispering in her ear: “Sometimes we have to get lost to find ourselves, sometimes we have to go walkabout.”
In the final frames of the ad the couple are shown swimming in a billabong, clearly regenerated by the whole experience.
As a side effect of the current ‘credit crunch’ holiday visits are at a 10-year low. The number of holidaymakers that came to Australia in the last financial year has fallen by nearly 5 per cent to 2.5 million. Hopefully the $40 Million dollars spent on the campaign will result in some hefty returns for the Australian economy. I’m sure it might get a couple of folks thinking about a more permanent holiday down under to. 
Clicky Here to view the new ads (Link opens in a new window)
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