New Zealand – Tourism New Zealand, the agency that promotes the country’s tourism around the world, has launched a new campaign, which is an underground network of Secret (Travel) Agents, with a mission to encourage Australians to book a holiday in Aotearoa New Zealand.

With successfully executed missions like introducing the flat white to Australian culture or reminding Australians of how New Zealand does winter with its longer snow season, the Secret (Travel) Agents’ network of approximately 600,000 has been infiltrating Australians’ minds, hearts and mouths for years.

In a new campaign, which was done in collaboration with creative agency TBWA\Sydney and PR agency Eleven, the identities of some of the agents have been revealed in a recorded video conference. The secret agents are Kiwi comedian Melanie Bracewell, Australian popstar Ricki-Lee, TV presenter Richard Wilkins, Kiwi popstar Stan Walker, and drag performer Kita Mean, as well as Twitch streamer Broxh, and Kiwi character, the Beached Az Whale. They have been working to remind the world what is unique and special about Aotearoa New Zealand.

The brief is simple yet effective. Find ways to include New Zealand in regular chat, social media feeds, or general conversation. For example, posting a throwback picture from Waitomo Glowworm Caves, sharing their love of a Central Otago Pinot Noir, or simply reminding Australians that New Zealand scallops are just a bit bigger than theirs.

Katrina Alvarez-Jarratt, executive creative director at TBWA\Sydney, noted, “Anyone who knows a New Zealander, knows we just can’t shut up about how unique and beautiful our country is. Turns out, this behaviour is not random. It’s highly choreographed by an undercover society of Secret (Travel) Agents acting to encourage Australians to take a holiday in New Zealand.”

Meanwhile, Andrew Waddel, Tourism New Zealand’s general manager for Australia, said, “While some of our Secret (Travel) Agents have been revealed, this only means we need to find more for the cause – which is easily done by welcoming more Australians to New Zealand, and into our Agent whānau. It’s time for Australians to travel to Aotearoa and immerse themselves in a place filled with unmissable experiences and unmistakable Manaakitanga.”

Evan Roberts, chief creative officer at TBWA\Sydney, commented, “While this campaign is delivered in a Kiwi tongue-in-cheek manner, the marketing implications are huge. From an earned media moment, we are mobilising every advocate they have ever had in the history of social media, capturing first-party data and then rewarding them for their behaviour.”

New Zealand – Tourism New Zealand, the agency tasked to promote the country’s tourism around the world, has launched a new domestic winter activity campaign, which showcases a range of Aotearoa winter experiences.

According to Tourism New Zealand, despite borders opening for overseas travel, around two-thirds of New Zealanders intend to take a domestic holiday in the next 12 months, and that winter is Kiwi’s second favourite season.

Bjoern Spreitzer, Tourism New Zealand’s general manager of New Zealand and Business Events, said that the ‘Winter, So Hot Right Now’ activity encourages those who may not traditionally think of travelling within New Zealand over winter.

“New Zealanders have been travelling domestically for two years now – this winter we will be competing with demand for short and long-haul international holiday destinations that are warmer than our winter,” added Spreitzer.

The campaign follows the agency’s ‘Do Something Autumn’ campaign, which deems to have generated 409,000 website visits and 111,000 referrals to tourism businesses, making it the most successful domestic campaign of Tourism New Zealand.

New Zealand — Tourism New Zealand launched a new campaign to ensure Australians keep New Zealand on top of their travel list and to motivate them to make “their dreams a reality” and book a trip to New Zealand. Entitled ‘Within Your Wildest Dreams’, the campaign elaborates the dream adventure of travelling to neighbouring country New Zealand for the average Aussie.

The quirky short film starts with an Aussie being awoken from his sleep by a New Zealand native, granted a magical dream beard, the two are transported magically to New Zealand where they have a picturesque dream breakfast juxtaposed by peculiar fantasy scenarios. The film ends with the two travelling to all the scenic locations of New Zealand, prompting the protagonist to make his dream travels to New Zealand come true once he wakes up.

René de Monchy, chief executive for Tourism New Zealand, commented, “With Australian visitors returning to New Zealand soon, ‘Within Your Wildest Dreams’ showcases what New Zealand has on offer and encourages our friends across the ditch to start planning their trip in a lighthearted way that we know resonates with our Australian audience.”

Before COVID-19, Australia was New Zealand’s largest visitor market, and Tourism New Zealand’s research shows that 58 per cent of Australians who want to visit New Zealand will look to do so within six months of travel the border opening.

According to Tourism New Zealand, their research also showed that the proportion of travellers who use a travel agent to book their trip to New Zealand is increasing. In accordance with this and to support their trade partners in Australia, TNZ has produced a toolkit so they’re well-equipped to sell destination New Zealand to their clients.

The campaign is a reiteration of Tourism New Zealand’s ‘Stop Dreaming about New Zealand and Go’ campaign which  was launched in May 2021 to reinvigorate Australians’ wanderlust for its neighbouring Kiwi counterpart.

New Zealand – Tourism New Zealand, the organization tasked to promote the country’s tourism around the world, has recently launched a new campaign targeted at its regional neighbor – Australia – to encourage the country’s locals who happen to be the country’s largest former international visitor market, to come explore and renew their wanderlust towards New Zealand. 

Done in partnership with creative agency Special Group Australia, the campaign titled ‘Stop Dreaming about New Zealand and Go’ takes a quirky turn with a depiction of an Australian dreaming about New Zealand from his sleep, and is then is then taken through a range of the country’s popular attractions including National Parks and even stargazing with a surreal giant Kiwi.

According to research by Tourism New Zealand, about 77% of Australians are actively considering traveling to the country on holiday, followed by 27% who want to visit their family, with 15% to visit friends.

Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive René de Monchy shared that despite record numbers of Kiwis ‘doing something new’ and traveling domestically, there is an estimated $12.9B annual gap from the loss of international visitors, and the return of Australian visitors is projected to help reduce this gap with both domestic tourists and international visits making up 70% the pre-COVID visitor market.

“The campaign is designed to tap into people’s renewed desire to explore and showcases New Zealand’s natural environment, experiences, and the warm welcome of our people. We are seeing longer itineraries being booked by Australians which helps support travel to more remote locations within New Zealand,” said Monchy.

According to Ann Lockhart, the interim chief executive of Destination Queenstown, Australia is likewise a hugely important visitor market for Queenstown, particularly over winter when Australian visitors previously made up around 50% of all of our international visits.

“The ability to welcome them here is a huge boost for Queenstown and we are delighted the trans-Tasman bubble is open and our tourism operators are open and ready to welcome our Australian friends back,” said Lockhart.

In line with the campaign, Tourism New Zealand has also released a toolkit for interested partners who want to adopt and integrate with the campaign. The kit provides an overview of the campaign, the creative assets, and details on how partners can get involved through their own channels. The kit is available for download through its website.