2004 BEST USE OF NEWSPAPERS WINNER

WINNING ENTRY - Short break. Big result.

COMPANY - bellamyhayden

CLIENT - Tourism Tasmania / Zenith Media

SPONSORED BY
www.f2.com.au

OBJECTIVE

A short-break holiday typically lasts between one and three nights and accounts for 65% of travel by Australians. Getting to Tasmania involves either air travel or at least 10 hours on a ferry. Due to Melbourne's proximity and easy access, it is the primary target for Tasmania's short breaks. Tasmania will only ever capture a small segment of the weekendaway market but has room for growth. In 2002 its share was 3% with a longterm objective to grow it to 5%.

CAMPAIGN

The road less travelled was an important theme in the execution of this campaign. Reasoning it would be better to be the instigator of an impulsive decision to take a short holiday, than to battle for attention among other destinations at the retail end of the decision process, bellamyhayden aimed to get "under the skin" of stressed-out Melburnians. The first day of the campaign was its biggest, taking the front page of The Age and asking Melburnians if they were "Melbored". Using taglines such as "Leave the state. Return in a better one" and "Feel better about living in Victoria. Leave", the media team negotiated a deal with The Age newspaper guaranteeing prominent placement in the general news and "epicentre" section each Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday throughout winter. The agency also ran ads in the newspaper's online version and piggybacked its daily news alert email with its own campaign.

RESULTS

Tasmania had a great winter and it seems Melburnians did too. Year-on year short break visitation to the state increased more than 70%. Demonstrating a strong conversion rate, 16% more Victorians took a short break to Tasmania in 2003 than in 2002. The call centre tracked the origin of calls made to the short breaks phone number and found 73% of calls originated in Victoria. The online activity also struck a chord: online advertising outperformed the standard industry online "click-through" rate by three times. Tasmania's share of the weekend getaway market increased to 4% of the total market.

JUDGE'S COMMENTS

"A road less travelled. Insightful category and consumer understanding. Innovative use of newspapers via size, placement and creative strategy. Demonstrated true emotional connection with the consumer."