Life back promise for American tourists
12 Mar 2009
A new Tourism New Zealand campaign that hits US television this week promises American travellers that a New Zealand holiday will give them their life back.
Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive George Hickton says the cheeky ‘New Zealand LifeBack Promise’ campaign is intended to raise awareness and help prop up declining visitor numbers from this market.
Research carried out by Tourism New Zealand showed that many visitors from the United States considered their New Zealand vacation to be a life-changing experience.
Of those interviewed, travellers who had previously visited New Zealand said it was a soul-enriching and rejuvenating experience that ‘gave them their life back’.
The research also found that, despite its importance to New Zealand tourism, awareness of New Zealand in the US remains low.
Growth potential
While economic conditions have put a damper on visitor numbers from the US - New Zealand's third most important tourism market - George Hickton said this market was still incredibly important for New Zealand and had potential for growth.
"We now have direct flights out of three West Coast cities, with New Zealand only an easy overnight flight away," Mr Hickton said. "Airfares are low and our dollar is making us good value for American travellers.
"Part of the problem at the moment is lack of awareness. Our research showed that those who know more about New Zealand and have a better understanding of what we offer are more likely to come here. This campaign has been designed to raise awareness and convert that awareness into action."
Nine-day cure
This new take on the '100% Pure New Zealand' campaign tells American consumers to give New Zealand just nine days and get their life back.
The 30-second television commercial will be followed by two 90-second ‘mini-documentaries’ launching later in March, which showcase the revitalising experiences travellers can expect from a New Zealand holiday.
The campaign will run on the Discovery Channel network, which is a perfect fit for Tourism New Zealand’s target market. Network statistics show 12.9 million Discovery Channel viewers took a foreign vacation in the last year. Of these, 291,000 have already been to New Zealand.
Background:
- In the year ending December 2008, 212,410 American visitors spent more than NZ$616 million travelling around New Zealand.
- The US is New Zealand’s third largest market in both visitor numbers and spend.
- Around 8.5 million Discovery Channel viewers fall into Tourism New Zealand’s target market.
- Discovery Channel network statistics show that nearly 12.9 million viewers had a foreign vacation in the last year.
- ‘The New Zealand Life Back Promise’ mini-documentaries will be hosted by US Discovery Channel presenter and former celebrity footballer Dhani Jones.
- Dhani Jones has filmed a one-hour New Zealand episode for his Travel Channel series 'Dhani Tackles the Globe' to air later this year.
- Advertising will appear on three Discovery network channels: Discovery Channel, Travel Channel and Planet Green.
- The launch follows New Zealand’s appearance in reality TV show 'The Bachelor' which saw New Zealand show-cased to a record-breaking audience of 15.45 million on 3 March (the show's biggest audience since 2003).
- Advertising will run through until 25 April.
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