Wednesday 29 September 2010

White, middle class, affluent: Tourism Queensland's new campaign

There's obviously no black fellas in Queensland.

Palm Cove gets a mention in Tourism Queensland's new branding, summed up what they call "a powerful statement, Queensland - Where Australia Shines".

"A great holiday does more than just take you to places where you can see different things; it takes you to a place where the real you shines," Tourism Queensland says. "The 'Queensland - where Australia Shines' brand reflects that."

After 12 months of what they call "extensive research and industry consultation," Tourism Queensland have launched their first "truly global tourism brand."

"We’ve known for a long time that Queensland is where Australia shines in so many ways; now we can tell the world through a clear and consistent tourism message for our state," TQ says. "The brand is about why we love living in Queensland. It’s about adding value to people’s experiences and about discovering and sharing the magic of Queensland that only the locals can know and understand."

The State Government have thrown $4.16 million at the campaign.

However, the result is a predicable mono-syllabic approach to what Queensland is like, all poster puff. Tourism bodies have a role to truly reflect the diversity and cultural make-up, and this latest effort fails miserably. It's full of pretty hedonistic moneyed locals and travelers, splashing around in the water. Looks nice, but is it really a true reflection of Queensland? I think not.

9 comments:

The Essence of Good Taste said...

What a waste of money. How many times ca you reinvent the wheel.

*Tourism Queensland have launched their first "truly global tourism brand.*

Really? Having a lot of experience in branding may I respectfully suggest Ms Premier and TQ you have had one of the world's first truely global tourism brand mothballed for over 10 years.

Beautiful One Day Perfect the Next passed into the language idiom 20 odd years ago and you were embarrassed by it. A case of new boss says "we want a new one".

The segmentation of Queensland's brand into individual products with their own identity was well timed but always underfunded.

Get serious if you want to brand market. Arnotts have established about 8 differentiated identical chocolate biscuits through Tim Tam but they spent (I'm guessing) $30m+

How about you invest $3m a year in each of Qlds destination brands (about $18m total - and I mean in media not wages) - the real ones not the politucal ones. So I mean Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, Whitsundays, and of course your jewel Tropical North Queensland (and again must I spell it out - that does not mean lumping Townsville in too - consumers do not buy Townsville for the same reasons they do TNQ so stop force feeding our customers the wrong message. Townsville has its own brand, but it is appropriately served by the iconic generic Qld brand of Beautiful One Day... as is our wonderful Outback product)

Don't get me started...

Susan said...

Perhaps they should get YOU started. I have only recently arrived here but can only feel that Captivating Cairns suffers from the Adelaide problem. Please don't tell anybody about us really let us keep it to ourselves. While the Adelaide Tourism people create campaigns the Adelaide people grind their teeth. "Ssh they might ALL want to LIVE here and that would spoil it for us"
Cairns is as close to Paradise here on earth as you can get. Lets SHARE it with the world
Cheers
from a recent Perthite

Syd Walker (consumer) said...

Just out of curiosity, what are "differentiated identical chocolate biscuits" and where do I buy them? I'd like to try all eight for starters...

KitchenSlut said...

Tourism funding and support usually attracts some adverse commentators. However a study by Aegis Consulting in 2006 assessed that the Qld Guvmint received $108 million in GST proceeds from international tourists and provided $43 million in support to tourism agencies.

Tourism promotion is effectively self funding from international tourists alone and the study suggested scope for increased funding. Among the 'tradeable' industries potentially impacted by a strong currency tourism receives relatively less Guvmint support than ether manufacturing or agriculture despite employing far more people.

The new slogan and campaign doesn't do much for me and it seems too much has been thrown at poor generic campaigns. Perhaps we should get rid of state based marketing entirely and move to a two-tier national and regional model?

tourism watchdog said...

Essence may be onto something and after reading this it was a bellylaugh to later read the Courier-Mail headline on this announcement "Fine one day, shine the next".

More disturbing in that article was the quote from Qld Tourism chairman Don Morris boasting that this would "stick it up the other states".

Really? Maybe something should be stuck up Don Morris for this appallingly crude and inappropriate statement as the same article reports the recent poor performance in Qld which includes the period when our own Desley Boyle was tourism minister?

KitchenSlut said...

Syd Walker (consumer)

Whether or not the 8 tim tam varities are differentiated or identical is relative? Personally I find them identical but am clearly overwhelmed by the weight of consumer opinion among chocoholics and tim tam fetishists.

My understanding is that the Cairns Woolies is the worlds largest retail vendor of Tim Tams?

The Essence of Good Taste said...

Gentlemen it is late and I am impatient...

Arnotts have differentiated 8 almost identical chocolate biscuits as 8 uniquely different ones to the consumer by spending a lot of money identifying 8 different emotional reasons to eat a chocolate biscuit. That is branding - identifying the emotional consumer psychology behind the purchase (the perceived benefit) and convincing people that your product will satisfy that need. Even if you didn't know you had the need in the first place!

Michael has blogged on Gruen above. May I suggest you watch it as they disect a brand each week with humour and honesty. Consumers could learn a lot about how to avoid being sucked into a brand by watching Todd and Russell. But then only 14% of the viewers watch ABC... And that is another story :)

Nite nite...

Syd Walker said...

Thanks Good Taste person. You know so much. No wonder slobs of the world are at your mercy.

Foolishly I'd thought I prefer Homebrand toilet paper because of the unpretentious design on the wrapping paper.

Now I understand my emotions must be involved too, in ways I'd never imagined.

KitchenSlut said...

I have a brilliant new idea to promote tourism in Cairns but am not sure which thread to post it on ..... it relates as much to some of the threads here on Warren Entsch and his new role as opposition whip.

Whip is now a key role responsible for the organisation of "pairing" in the parliament. Pairing has suddenly become part of the political lexicon and no .... is not related to gay marriage although it could be! Simply 'pairing' is the parliamentary convention whereby if a member is forced to be absent from the parliament the other side will 'pair' and take someone of their own out so the votes don't change.

This is obviously now significant so how can Entsch use this new power for Cairns? Hypothetical: Julia wants to go to a climate change conference in Copenhagen and wants a pair so the parliament can be stable during her absence. I would say that Entsch as Whip should refuse this pair unless the conference is held in Cairns?

Similarly suppose a member has a health issue and requires a pair for absence! Entsch should refuse this pair unless the member travels to Cairns for treatment?

I also have some thoughts here on a promotional reality TV show where the member and their pair should both travel to Cairns and be accommodated together and televised!

Brilliant! Beats the Gruen Transfer i reckon :)