Tourism Australia’s Dundee Snaps Up Major Cannes Lions Nod

Tourism Australia’s star-studded Dundee: The Son of a Legend Returns Home campaign has secured a coveted Titanium Lion award at the 2018 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

The Titanium award rounded out a successful week in Cannes for Australian tourism with Dundee picking up a total of 10 Lions.

Tourism Australia’s youth-focused Aussie News Today campaign developed in conjunction with Clemenger BBDO also took home a Gold and a Bronze Lions award.

Held annually, the Titanium Lions award celebrates unique, boundary-pushing ideas in the branded communications space, with 25 campaigns from around the world shortlisted this year.

Developed in conjunction with US-based advertising agency Droga5 and Tourism Australia’s global media services agency UM, the $A36 million campaign was officially unveiled at the Super Bowl in February with the aim of reinvigorating interest in Australia for a ew generation of American travellers.

Initially appearing as a trailer for a new Crocodile Dundee movie, the 60-second ad features Chris Hemsworth and Danny McBride as well as Paul ‘Crocodile Dundee’ Hogan. The campaign was also supported by a host of Aussie A-listers, including Hugh Jackman, Margot Robbie, Russell Crowe, Ruby Rose, Liam Hemsworth, Isla Fisher, Luke Bracey and Jessica Mauboy.

Tourism Australia’s Managing Director John O’Sullivan said the campaign reflected a deliberate move towards more impactful marketing programs that helped drive conversion.

“The US represents a huge tourism opportunity for Australia. The challenge we’ve always had with this market is that whilst awareness of Australia is high, this falls away significantly when it comes to translating this into bookings. That meant being bold and being prepared to take a few calculated risks, which I think we did by turning to Crocodile Dundee and the Super Bowl,” he said.

Tourism Australia’s CMO, Lisa Ronson, said the campaign illustrated the power of an innovative creative idea and the value of collaboration.

“It’s great to be recognised for great work and creative bravery but there also has to be a commercial outcome. This is a campaign which had very clear commercial targets, right from the start, and which I’m happy to say is already delivering unprecedented leads for our industry partners,” she said.

“UM is hugely proud of our role in bringing such a brave and ambitious campaign to life. Work like this does not get made every day, and for good reason – it’s hard and requires confidence and conviction to make it a reality. This required deep collaboration with Droga and Tourism Australia and a massive effort by many to produce the idea and deliver outcomes. Tourism Australia have once again proven that they are at the forefront of bold creative and media thinking,” said Fiona Johnston, CEO UM Australia.

Commenting on the win for Aussie News Today, Ben Coulson, Chief Creative Officer for Clemenger BBDO said “We’re thrilled. It’s really exciting when clients buy ideas that are brave and not traditional in nature. Well done for a great team effort.”

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