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Luke Hemsworth stars in the latest phase of Tourism Australia’s AUD 36 million Dundee campaign – and it turns out that the campaign requires only a modest upturn in visitation to cover the outlay.

A series of videos invites Americans to book a trip Down Under and visit the ‘set’ of the movie. The latest takes US travellers on an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the Dundee movie backlot, showcasing the breadth of spectacular and unique experiences on offer across Australia.

Luke Hemsworth is the older brother of actors Chris and Liam Hemsworth.  “The original Hemsworth”, the ad calls him.

According to Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham, it won’t take many extra American visitors to recoup the campaign outlay.

Here’s Birmingham speaking on Channel 9’s Today Show with Karl Stefanovic:

“Each visitor here spends AUD 5000 per person while they’re here. It’ll only take four extra jumbo planes over the course of the year to actually recoup the investment in this ad. So it’s pretty low investment.

 “And you’ve just got to be constant. I mean you can say we’ve been trying since Hoges and we’ve had great success since Hoges as well in growing the market. But you can’t just exit the market and stop advertising. Coke don’t ever stop advertising their product. Australia’s got to keep being in the US market with a presence to make sure people convert that love for Australia into an actual visit down under.”

This second phase of activity, Visit the Set of Dundee: Son of a Legend, builds on the momentum of the Dundee: The Son of a Legend Returns Home campaign, unveiled at the Super Bowl in February to over 100 million American TV viewers.

What first appeared as a star-studded trailer for a new Dundee sequel featuring celebrities Chris and Liam Hemsworth, Hugh Jackman, Paul Hogan and Margot Robbie; was then cleverly revealed as a tourism ad for Australia.

The new AUD 8 million campaign offers a tongue-in-cheek spin on the campaign with Luke taking Americans on a backlot tour of Australia which is cleverly portrayed as a giant set, purpose built for the Dundee movie.

Birmingham reminded Australians that the US is one of Australia’s largest and most valuable tourism markets with over 780,000 American visitors spending AUD 3.8 billion per year in Australia.

“Whilst Americans love Australia the challenge for us is to convert interest into action and get potential visitors on a plane headed Down Under.

“With the traditional summer booking season just around the corner, coupled with a favourable exchange rate, increased aviation capacity and attractive airfares, now is the perfect time for this next phase of activity in the US.”

Since its launch, the Dundee campaign has reached more than 9 billion people and has generated nearly 14,500 news articles with an equivalent advertising value of over AUD 85 million.

Activity will run from October to December to coincide with the peak travel booking season for the US market. The campaign is also earmarked to roll out in other international markets including the UK.

Written by Peter Needham