The Brief

NZ has a tiny population, and a budget to match. But its ambitions are global. And it was presented with a once in a lifetime opportunity to make the country a must-visit destination off the back of the global spotlight that would turn it’s way thanks to the launch of Sir Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Tourism NZ focuses on an identified market segment called ‘active considerers’ and pays particular attention to the global ‘active considerer’ quarterly monitor. 67% of active considerers say The Hobbit movies are more likely to motivate them to come to NZ.

Creative Execution

There are few things more personal, and more valuable than your own passport. And the stamps inside are souvenirs in their own right. Being able to stamp our campaign right inside one, makes it even more treasured than before: a priceless souvenir, and the reminder of the trip of a lifetime: to another world. But as well as being a priceless keepsake, the images of stamped passports were made to be shared. And as our results show, word of these stamps traveled.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

New Zealand is middle-earth, on earth. Where Gandalf strides, Hobbit’s walk, and Gollum creeps. Where fantasy and reality are one and the same thing. Thus 100% Middle-earth=100%Pure New Zealand was born. And quite naturally, if you’re entering a country that really is Middle-earth, you’d get a real life passport stamp that said ‘Welcome to Middle-earth’ wouldn’t you? We worked with the department of internal affairs to create a passport stamp that immigration officials could use at Auckland international airport and dispense to arriving visitors during the week of the Premiere.

Results

Shock…laughter…‘Share’: typical responses of people who got a stamp in their passport during premiere week as 70 000 travelers passed through customs when our ‘stamp’ was live. These included ‘influencers’ like Larry Curtis, Senior Contributor of ‘theonering.net’, who immediately photographed his passport stamp and broadcast it online via Instagram and Facebook to his hundreds of thousands of followers. Within an hour posting a photo of his own stamp, Larry received nearly 4,000 likes. Journalist Ann Curry posted a shot of hers to 1.45 million twitter followers adding: ‘NZ has actually stamped my passport ‘welcome to middle-earth’. How wild is THAT’.