Baz Luhrmann to conceive Australian tourism campaign

Tourism Australia today announced that internationally renowned writer, producer and director, Baz Luhrmann, will conceive and produce a special international advertising campaign for the tourist board – the first time the acclaimed Australian has worked with a national tourism organisation.

The campaign, which will run from October 2008 in Tourism Australia’s international markets, will coincide with the world-wide marketing and release of Luhrmann’s major motion picture Australia.

“The combined weight of the film and this campaign will provide Australia with its most powerful push in decades,” said Managing Director Geoff Buckley.

“This is a remarkable, and we think, unique project.

“Australia’s AU$85 billion (£41 billion) tourism industry is, like many countries, experiencing slower growth because of rising oil prices and tightening economic conditions around the world.”

Nick Baker, Tourism Australia’s Executive General Manager of Marketing said, “We remain one of the world’s most desired tourist destinations, but converting that desire into reality is becoming harder than ever for many travellers.

“The need to create urgency and fashionability around a country’s ‘brand’ is stronger than ever and even Australia, which has long enjoyed an exceptionally high brand reputation, needs to keep its marketing fresh and compelling.

“There is no better way to do that than to secure the help of one of the most creative and innovative talents, Baz Luhrmann, his creative partner Catherine Martin and the entire Bazmark team.

“The themes of romance and adventure, coupled with the power of the Australian land and people to transform, will resonate in the tourism campaign, as it does in the film.”

Mr Luhrmann said, “When Tourism Australia came to us, we were reticent at first because we did not want to confuse the promotion of the film with a tourism campaign. 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 film, reflects this singular and attractive truth.”

Mr Baker also commented, “This campaign will run in cinemas, on television and online. Print executions will be developed by Tourism Australia’s creative agency DDB Worldwide, in consultation with Mr Luhrmann’s production company Bazmark Inq.”

For more information, log on to Australia.com.