New Adelaide tourism commercial

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Ho Really
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New Adelaide tourism commercial

#1 Post by Ho Really » Mon Feb 03, 2014 4:10 pm

New Adelaide tourism commercial to premiere today
February 3, 2014

A powerful new campaign showcasing Adelaide and its surrounding regions will premiere on television interstate and in Adelaide today.

Featuring a new version of the INXS classic Never Tear Us Apart- performed by Aussie singer Emma Louise – the ad includes evocative visuals of Port Willunga beach, McLaren Vale, the Adelaide Hills and historic Port Adelaide warehouses as well as iconic elements of the city including Adelaide Oval, the Art Gallery, Rundle Street lantern, and Adelaide’s laneways.

Premier Jay Weatherill said the ad would spark debate and challenge people’s traditional perceptions of Adelaide.

“It will get people talking about and travelling to Adelaide to find out for themselves what it is that is changing here,” Mr Weatherill said.

“With Lonely Planet naming Adelaide asone of its top 10 cities to visit in 2014, this campaign is a great chance to capitalise on that publicity and give people even more reasons to come here.

“This city is changing so we want to celebrate that and entice more visitors to discover the new Adelaide.

“The commercial was produced by the same creative team – Jeff Darling and Kate Sawyer from Moth Projects – who produced last year’s award-winning Barossa. Be Consumed commercial, as well as the Kangaroo Island’s Let Yourself Goad.

“Adelaide as a tourism region is the State’s largest contributor towards visitor expenditure and visitation, however, research conducted interstate has shown that outside of the world famous festival season and wine regions, many visitors don’t know what to expect from Adelaide.

“Research also shows people are shunning big cities and hectic holidays, and seeking smaller, more intimate destinations where they can take the time to immerse themselves.

“The campaign shows how Adelaide provides the perfect answer to this – it offers a diverse array of experiences that are more accessible than other capital cities, while capturing the energy and quirky spirit of our State.

The first phase of the campaign will focus on Sydney with some activity in Adelaide and South Australia, expanding later to Melbourne and Brisbane.

Tourism Minister Leon Bignell said the campaign will also have an online focus, including through the Sydney Morning Herald, Ten Play Catch Up TV, You Tube, Facebook, Twitter and the southaustralia.com website.

“We will also see a wrap-around featuring Adelaide content in Tuesday’s Sydney Morning Herald Good Food section,” he said.

“This is a great week to launch the Adelaide campaign as many of the key network programmes are back on television after the summer break and we expect millions of viewers will see this ad.

“A local advocacy strategy has also been launched in Adelaide through South Australian media partners.”

Following the release of the Barossa ad in June last year, sales income for the Barossa Visitor Information Centre, including accommodation and tours, grew by between 27 and 160 per cent from June to November. General enquires to the centre also increased by between 18 and 29 per cent across the same timeframe.

“Their previous work has generated a huge amount of exposure and accolades nationally, from both tourism and advertising media,” Mr Bignell said.

“Last October their Barossa commercial won the award for best ad in the world at the Cannes Corporate Media and Television Awards, ahead of 718 other entries from 40 countries.

“It also translated into increased visitation with the Barossa Visitor Information Centre experiencing its busiest ever months in July and August for sales and general enquiries.

“The new Greater Adelaide TV commercial will challenge the way people think about Adelaide by painting a portrait of an eclectic city that can intrigue and surprise.”

The advertising campaign will cost $4-6 million during the next 12-24 months.

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Re: New Adelaide tourism commercial

#2 Post by victorious80 » Tue Feb 04, 2014 8:57 am

I saw this ad last night and was quite impressed with it. The slightly off-beat, suggestive nature of the ad captures your interest and incites a feeling of curiosity. I like the fact that initially it is unclear what the ad is for - it certainly suggested to me that Adelaide is a place to explore and has attractions that are not immediately obvious. The alternative style is showing bits of Adelaide that everyone already knows about and can identify with - however to me this would suggest that Adelaide is a place you can go to, see the sites, and leave, without any interaction, exploration or surprises.

Hard to explain, but as an example, I have been lucky enough to visit Venice 4 times - each time I find more interest in exploring the small side streets and canals than being amongst the huge crowds at St Mark's Square. There seems to be more satisfaction in exploring a city and discovering hidden gems, rather than going from airport to tourist point A to tourist point B to airport - perhaps it becomes a more personal experience? Maybe that is what the ad developers were going for?

Anyway, I liked it. I was a bit disheartened to hear Triple M cutting it down this morning, along with many of the callers. I guess it is not going to appeal to everyone...

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Re: New Adelaide tourism commercial

#3 Post by Maximus » Tue Feb 04, 2014 9:05 am

Like.

The Barossa ad polarised opinion, too, but the net result has been highly positive.
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Re: New Adelaide tourism commercial

#4 Post by Ho Really » Tue Feb 04, 2014 12:24 pm

In yesterday's SMH...
The man behind those tourism ads
February 3, 2014
Robert Upe
Travel and Tourism Writer

The man behind the controversial Barossa Valley commercial for the South Australian Tourism Commission is at it again, this time with a similarly moody ad focusing on Adelaide and involving an astronaut floating around the city to the soundtrack of an INXS hit song.

Director Jeff Darling is also the force behind the Kangaroo Island "Let yourself go" advertisement released early last year and credited with a surge in tourist interest.

His Barossa "Be Consumed" ad, screening in cinemas and on television, has also resulted in record tourist inquiries, but the ad has raised eyebrows since it started screening last May.

It shows evocative images of the Barossa countryside and tables of food, but also a woman plucking a chicken, a man holding dead rabbits and a girl in a white dress lying in dirt. It's all set to the eerie soundtrack of Right Red Hand by Nick Cave.

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The ad was featured on the Gruen Planet, where it was praised by the panel, even though host Wil Anderson joked that a state known for serial killers shouldn't be using such imagery.

Mr Darling said the key approach to all three of the "touchy-feely" ads had been to emotionally connect audiences to the places.

"The aim has been to leave them with a sense of experience and feeling for the destinations.

"It's not about ticking boxes (to show every attraction). That's just wallpaper."

Mr Darling welcomes criticism that the Barossa ad is too dark.

"I think it's great people see it like that. These things need to be challenging, otherwise it gets boring and people overlook them. Yeah, it is a bit dark but it poses the challenge that there is something there and are you brave enough to experience it."

The latest ad launched in Sydney on Sunday and will be rolled out around the rest of Australia in the coming months.

It shows Port Willunga beach, McLaren Vale, the Adelaide Hills, as well as iconic elements of the city including Adelaide Oval, Rundle Street and the city's laneways.

"It tries to express the atmosphere, experiences and feelings of the places," said Mr Darling who has also worked on tourism ads for Jamaica, Abu Dhabi and the famous Qantas "Still call Australia Home" ad.

"One of the protagonists in the Adelaide ad is an astronaut who falls to earth and slowly discovers the environment. The final caption is 'breathe', so the final moments are about the character taking off the helmet showing they are able to breathe in this new city they have discovered."

The soundtrack of the INXS hit Never Tear Us Apart is by young Brisbane singer Emma Louise, a Triple J Unearthed winner.

The South Australian Tourism Commission's acting marketing director Emma Fletcher said: "There's lots going on in the city. There have been licensing changes so small bars are popping up and the nightlife is gaining momentum. Adelaide Oval has reopened after redevelopment and the river precinct is going to be redeveloped. We feel like things are happening and now is the right time to push Adelaide."

However, not everyone is happy with the new Adelaide advertisement, with the South Australian opposition's tourism spokesman David Ridgway labelling it a waste of taxpayer's money and claiming the ad is designed to help the State Government in the lead up to the new election.

Lonely Planet recently rated Adelaide as one of the top 10 cities to visit in the world this year.

"Adelaide is effortlessly chic – and like a perfectly cellared red, it's ready to be uncorked and sampled," the travel publisher said.

The Sydney Morning Herald
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Re: New Adelaide tourism commercial

#5 Post by Nathan » Tue Feb 04, 2014 12:47 pm

Good article on InDaily about the new commercial. The main point is that the issue isn't people's negative opinions of Adelaide, it's that most have no perception at all. That's incredibly concerning, and it's really at the core of the rationale for the ad. A typical tourism montage of things around the city would not have addressed the problem in the slightest, as it would just disappear as wallpaper. Whilst the ad may not represent what locals perceive Adelaide to be, it sets an intrigue which should at the very least spark some curiosity into the city — much as the Barossa ad asks people to see beyond just the wine that it's known for.

Whilst it's fair to criticise the execution, there's obvious some very solid strategy behind it, and that's far more important than whether astronauts, DeLoreans and INXS covers are everyday occurrences in our city.

Ad research found “zero” perceptions of Adelaide
DAVID WASHINGTON | 4 FEBRUARY 2014
http://indaily.com.au/news/2014/02/04/t ... -adelaide/

There is a good reason why the latest Adelaide tourism commercial is so radical – extensive research discovered that our target tourism market didn’t have negative perceptions of the city but, rather, no perceptions at all.

James Rickard, KWP! creative director and the writer of the Adelaide: Breathe commercial released this week (see below), said campaign research into the well-heeled Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne market had “terrifying” results.

“We did a lot of research interstate and we found that the perceptions of Adelaide were zero,” Rickard told InDaily. “Not negative – there’s nothing at all. Adelaide just didn’t register on the radar – and that’s terrifying.

“We have got to address the inertia otherwise we will wither and die.”

This was the impetus for Rickard’s unusual commercial, with its falling astronaut (a woman, as it turns out) and the fast-cut, dream-like sequences that are only rarely recognisable Adelaide scenes.

The ad has been roundly criticised but after suffering a similar backlash for his Barossa: Be consumed commercial, Rickard is unfazed, particularly by negativity in Adelaide which he points out isn’t the target market.

“Although it’s copping some negativity there are supporters and a lot of that is coming from interstate,” he said.

“We are doing something different so people are pretty resistant to change. It is a very unusual commercial.”

Rickard said the arresting imagery is necessary to break through the domestic market’s indifference to Adelaide, which he says extends to the events that South Australians consider to be drawcards.

Even the Tour Down Under and WOMADelaide – considered two of the jewels in our tourism crown – aren’t sufficiently well known or understood to drive tourism by themselves.

“We always tell ourselves in South Australia that the Tour Down under is the greatest race outside of the Tour de France. That’s true, but a lot of people didn’t know about it.”

There was confusion about the world music festival WOMAD – was it something to do with women’s liberation?

“A lot of them had no real perception of what we had to offer. But if you gave them a menu of events they’d say: ‘So what? You can do that in other cities’.”

So the challenge became to present Adelaide in a completely new light – as a place “alien” to other Australian capitals. Hence the “complex and subtle” imagery that Rickard came up with.

“If you hang your hat on those events and those products they say ‘so what’. But if you have them at an emotional level they will have a look at it.

“This emotional investment can’t be under-estimated. It’s subtle and hard to explain to people and incredibly hard to write.”

The commercial will be followed by a more conventional marketing campaign, selling the products and events that Adelaide has to offer.

Rickard said the commercial tried to capture a resurgent spirit of innovation in South Australia – something he pegs to our past as a place of world-leading social and cultural innovation.

“It you look at the ad critically, you would say it’s presenting a creative, free-thinking, interesting place,” he said. “And that goes back to this city’s DNA.

“A lot of our state’s steps forward were firsts – not only in this country but in the world.

“That entrepreneurialism is really bubbling to the surface again in South Australia and we wanted to capture that.”

Rickard believes that without the success of his previous Kangaroo Island and Barossa campaigns in boosting tourism numbers, his Government client would not have accepted such a radical commercial for Adelaide.

“Without a shadow of a doubt – there’s just no way it would have happened,” he said.

From the beginning of the SA Tourism Commission’s change of direction two years ago, when it released the stunning Kangaroo Island: Let Yourself Go campaign, there were doubts at senior levels of government.

Rickard said that outgoing SATC marketing boss David O’Loughlin was a powerful and persuasive figure in convincing the State Government that the new campaigns would work.

He was proved correct.

“We have in fact created a completely new genre of tourism advertising,” Rickard argues.

“It’s far more cerebral and subtle and so hard to quantify (than conventional previous campaigns), which is why people attack it.”

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Re: New Adelaide tourism commercial

#6 Post by SRW » Tue Feb 04, 2014 1:33 pm

The ad, for the record:
Keep Adelaide Weird

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Re: New Adelaide tourism commercial

#7 Post by SRW » Tue Feb 04, 2014 1:56 pm

Nathan wrote:Good article on InDaily about the new commercial. The main point is that the issue isn't people's negative opinions of Adelaide, it's that most have no perception at all. That's incredibly concerning, and it's really at the core of the rationale for the ad. A typical tourism montage of things around the city would not have addressed the problem in the slightest, as it would just disappear as wallpaper. Whilst the ad may not represent what locals perceive Adelaide to be, it sets an intrigue which should at the very least spark some curiosity into the city — much as the Barossa ad asks people to see beyond just the wine that it's known for.

Whilst it's fair to criticise the execution, there's obvious some very solid strategy behind it, and that's far more important than whether astronauts, DeLoreans and INXS covers are everyday occurrences in our city.
I agree.

It really helps to see their strategy spelt out, because on first watch I was a little cynical. But what they're doing is actually seizing a huge opportunity to fill the empty space in the public consciousness of Adelaide. If the problem is not negative perceptions of Adelaide but a lack of any at all, a campaign like this can determine the idea people interstate have of us. And I think the approach they've take is absolutely correct. It harks back to the suggestion of people like Stuart Gregor that Adelaide should embrace the weird and aim for a niche similar to Portland and Austin. I'll be interested to see how they expand on this campaign -- to "Keep Adelaide Weird", if you will.
Keep Adelaide Weird

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Re: New Adelaide tourism commercial

#8 Post by Maximus » Wed Feb 05, 2014 8:46 am

I wonder if something somewhat significant will come from the astronaut imagery. 'The astronaut ad' has a sense of memorability about it. And the 'Adelaide astronaut' has a nice alliterated feeling. Could she become, dare I say it, just a little bit... iconic...?!

An Adelaide astronaut statue in Rundle Mall perhaps...? :wink:
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Re: New Adelaide tourism commercial

#9 Post by [Shuz] » Wed Feb 05, 2014 11:28 am

I think you're onto something Maximus... it certainly is memorable.

We did the astronaut thing at the Fringe a couple of years ago. I remember those two blow up dolls looming large over Victoria Square. That was pretty nifty. It was instantly recognisable.

Andy Thomas is a former Adelaide resident isn't he, he grew up here? We could go somewhere with this... the concept of the astronaut as our 'human' identity. When one thinks of an astronaut, they're associated with adventure / travelling into the unknown / exploring new spaces. Daring, bold, courageous. We could sell Adelaide / SA in that way - with a focus on exploring the hidden gems, the roads lesser travelled, that sort of thing. You know how we have like a state floral emblem, the sturt desert pea, and the fauna... which I have no clue what it is... the State 'human' emblem could be an astronaut.

Just no statues or anything, please. But I'd very happily embrace the astronaut identity as an Adelaide icon. It could easily become an icon that is symbolic / synonymous to the city.
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Re: New Adelaide tourism commercial

#10 Post by Nathan » Wed Feb 05, 2014 11:54 am

That said, the punch line of the ad is the astronaut taking of her helmet, so she can breathe.

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Re: New Adelaide tourism commercial

#11 Post by rev » Wed Feb 05, 2014 11:58 am

They had the inflatable astronauts on the sides of buildings down King William at as well as in the square. If only things like that were done throughout the year along with the light displays on buildings.

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Re: New Adelaide tourism commercial

#12 Post by mshagg » Thu Feb 06, 2014 11:42 am

It's nice to see SATC giving the city a bit of a run. They've been so focused on KI, the barossa and other "regions" that Adelaide itself was really just a hub that people passed through on their way to taste wine somewhere.

I guess the city is at a point where it's worthwhile going for a stroll and poking your head down some laneways to see what you find.

As for the execution of the ad itself, I'll leave that to people who understand advertising to comment on lol.

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Re: New Adelaide tourism commercial

#13 Post by crawf » Thu Feb 06, 2014 12:57 pm

After watching it a few times, I really do like it.

Well done SATC

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