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

If you’re a fan of Tolkien, then one place is synonymous with Middle-earth, and that is New Zealand. 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. Where the landscapes and adventures are as amazing as those in the films. Globally 67% of people actively considering a trip to NZ say The Hobbit movies were more likely to motivate them to come to NZ.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

‘100% Middle-earth=100% Pure New Zealand’ was born. All our campaign activity needed to live and propagate online, and drive global traffic to our gateway portal newzealand.com, and/or to our travel partners. Our campaign began with an epic online film, then encompassed rich media, paid display, earned media, PR and editorial activity such as the nation’s weather forecast broadcast entirely in Elvish, exclusive online content, a ‘Journey to Middle-earth’ book, a even a Dept of Internal affairs sanctioned ‘Welcome to Middle earth’ passport stamp. The campaign was aired in 47 countries worldwide.

Results

Sir Peter shared our film with over 650 000 fans. In 3 months, we had close to a million views online. Visits to newzealand.com using campaign related key-words is up 265%; A 16% increase (year on year) of global traffic to newzealand.com. In the first 48 hours of the ‘virtual book’ going live it received 130,000 page views, with an average of 14 book page views per visit. Rich-media film performed above industry standards for ‘interaction’ and engagement. The nation’s weather forecast, broadcast in ‘Elvish’ was reported far and wide by the BBC and the Daily Mail.