A bunch of well-known Aussie musicians have been called upon to feature in a new digital marketing campaign by Destination NSW geared at convincing Australian travellers to take a road trip in the state.

Informed by audience insights captured through consumer travel websites Sydney.com and VisitNSW.com, the ‘Road Trips’ campaign uses the top searched items, content types and experience categories to guide every element to deliver tools and information that is most sought after by visitors to the Destination-NSW-operated sites.

Musicians were identified to spearhead the campaign based on Roy Morgan persona data, which revealed the important role music plays on a road trip and consumer interest in road tripping to view live music.

Destination NSW chief executive Steve Cox said the road trips program is an important step in ensuring long-term recovery of the tourism industry, and encourages locals and interstate visitors to take a road trip with family or friends and experience parts of NSW they may not have visited before.

“All travellers are welcome in NSW, and now is the time for them to lock in their next great escape with a road trip across NSW to support those tourism businesses who have faced such a challenging year,” he said.

“Our focus is on fast-tracking the recovery of local communities by delivering marketing programs that get people travelling across NSW.

“There are 28 incredible road trip itineraries to choose from on VisitNSW.com, with options for trips from one to five-plus days right across the state.”

Developed to support the local tourism businesses and operators in areas of NSW affected by drought, bushfires and COVID-19, Road Trips will see the following components rolled out over the coming months:

• A six-part YouTube video content series, The Long Road, hosted by TV and radio personality Ash London featuring musicians Amy Shark, Guy Sebastian, Troy Cassar-Daley, Connie Mitchell from Sneaky Sound System, Baden Donegal from Ocean Alley, and Polish Club touring some of the state’s top road trips.
• Geo-targeted domestic advertising including digital, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Spotify, and digital publishers such as We Are Explorers
• Cooperative marketing campaigns with partners including Tripadvisor, Kayak, Helloworld Travel, Welcome to Country, and Wotif to drive bookings, and a consumer competition delivered by Tripadvisor in partnership with Tesla to win a NSW road trip with a Tesla Model 3.
• An influencer marketing program designed to stimulate advocacy and visitor interest through their first-hand experiences across the state.
• New landing pages featuring all 28 road trip itineraries on VisitNSW.com and Sydney.com which can be searched by interest area, duration or region. Each itinerary includes an interactive, sharable and downloadable map, points of interest along the route, links to popular tourism businesses, and an indication of drive time from Sydney or the nearest airport.
• Content partnerships with major news media including News Corp Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Weekend, The Guardian and Australian Traveller.

In a first for the travel category in Australia, Road Trips will also include a strategic partnership with Google My Business to measure the impact of the campaign on footfall.

Nick Kavanagh, head of communications strategy for Australia at Havas Media, the media agency which helped develop the campaign, said: “Now more than ever, brands must deliver personalised marketing that is tailored to audiences and their individual needs.

“It’s refreshing to work with a client who understands this and realises the need to look beyond the traditional box of marketing tactics usually employed by brands.

Francis Coady, general manager of Havas Sports & Entertainment Australia and executive producer of The Long Road series, said: “It’s been a privilege to work with some of the finest entertainment talent in the country, a trusting and adventurous client, and a hardworking and passionate crew to showcase the varied beauty of NSW.

“We know these stories will encourage people to travel again, and we are thrilled to be able to support small businesses across the state, who have been so affected these past few years.”

You can check out the first episode of The Long Road below:

CAMPAIGN CREDITS

Destination NSW

General Manager of consumer marketing: Shane McClelland

Director of marketing: Sonia McIvor

Manager of regional marketing: Rebecca Durr

Marketing campaign managers: Cori McLeod and Aimee Bannister

Havas Media Group ANZ

Head of communications strategy: Nick Kavanagh

Group business director: Catherine Edghill

Data and analytics director: Dan Taylor

Senior account manager: Luisa Dalli

Havas Sports & Entertainment

The Long Road series creator/executive producer: Francis Coady

Production co-ordinator/AE: Madeline Symonds

Music supervision: Francis Coady

Music clearance: Belinda Yates

Emotive

Creative directors: Tim Seller and Rory Pearson

Copywriter: Dan Mansour

Art director: Alex King

Business director: Monika Vidovic

Executive producer (production): Hayley-Ritz Pelling

Senior producers: Gemma Atkinson and Michael Hollis

Line producer: Kimber Sykes

Location managers: Kassie McDonald, Rose Vallentine and Faiza Hadi

Director: Tim Seller

DP: Rupert Critchley

Drone: Mitchel Loveday

Photography: Rocket Weijers Uren

COVID marshall: Sam Brown

Sound recordist: Patrick Mullins

Hair and make-up artist: Carla Mico

Wardrobe: Lauren Boutros

Editors: Tim Seller, Kent Hau, Spencer Austad, and Ben Kucharski

Colourist: Matt Fezz

Sound (post-production): Rumble Studios