Tourism Australia hooks Chinese netizens with new online drama

DDB and Tribal DDB Shanghai came up with this online drama strategy for Tourism Australia, and the client used a production company to film the drama in Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania.

The five-part series consists of ten-minute episodes delivering a suspense-filled, modern-day love story set against the romantic backdrop of scenic places in Australia. The idea is to get Chinese netizens to fall in love with Australia through a captivating love story. The series was launched exclusively on Tudou, as well as on Youtube for the Hong Kong market.

Another objective of the series is to create engagement via the online campaign site on Tudou. Tourism Australia cited that the stars who feature in the series have a combined following of more than 25 million fans on online channels and micro-blogging sites.

The first episode was released on Tudou in mid-April. There will be an episode released every week for the next four weeks. Audiences can also watch behind the scenes and vignettes of travel destinations that explore Australia’s iconic places on its dedicated Todou website.

Added to this, there will be a weekly quiz and lucky draw to engage with the audience who are encouraged to share the videos with their friends. Those who watch all five episodes and answer all the questions correctly stand a chance to win the grand prize draw (six round trip air tickets to Australia) - so they themselves may be able to find love in Australia, too.

“This campaign is another example of the power of advocacy through social media and digital platforms in tourism marketing, allowing us to reach an international audience through the web which they are actively using to plan and book holidays,” Andrew McEvoy, MD of Tourism Australia said.

“Tapping into strong cultural insights that Chinese consumers love drama and romance, will pull weight and eyeballs. Allowing these viewers to also actively engage with the online drama will further drive action and influence,” said Leo Chu, MD of Tribal DDB Shanghai.

Credits:

Campaign Tourism Australia Online Drama Campaign
Client Tourism Australia
Creative agency DDB & Tribal DDB Shanghai – DDB China Group
Creative Chris Jones, Kevin Chiu, Eggie Huang, Ever Song, Lynn Li.
Account management Margaret Wu, Stefanie Liew, JC Wu
Exposure Todou, Youtube