🦘How Tourism Tasmania Built an Authentic Place Brand that Invited Mainland Australians to Be Tasmanian and Generated a 43% increase in Visitor Spend 📈

Tourism Tasmania is an example of a destination brand that’s bucking a category and driving serious growth with a strategic brand platform, compelling local stories and world class creative

Who will love this

• Travelers seeking off-the-beaten-track adventures

• Wombat walkers, star-seekers, and truffle snufflers (really)

• Stock-photo weary destination marketers

Today

G’day. 

Today we’re diving deep on a brand for a little island south of Australia: Tasmania.

In 2016, I worked on a brand for the West Coast of Tasmania, and it changed the way I thought about destination branding. It also made me fall in love with Tasmania. Truly a special place. I digress.

What I found then still holds true now: Destination brands as a category, are mostly…innocuous. The biggest problem I see? They lack authenticity and energy. Instead, they’re sanitized, government-friendly communications that won’t offend anyone. Or inspire anyone.

Tourism Tasmania bucks the trend. 

Instead of glossing over the challenging truths about Tasmania, Tourism Tasmania leaned into them. The result? The quirky, humble, inventive Tasmanian spirit is brought to life as an invitation to visitors to try Tasmania on for size and be Tasmanian for a bit.

In October of 2019, Tourism Tasmania launched the official brand of Tasmania ‘Come Down for Air’ brand platform and have been on a streak since then: 

• 💸 Driving $3.63B in tourism dollars in 2023 alone, an increase of 43% from 2019

• 🛒 Boosted per visitor spend by $1,000 / person

• 🏆 Won gold and silver Effies (Australia’s effectiveness awards) 

In the fast-paced world of marketing, the idea of sticking to one brand platform for years can feel daunting. But that’s what makes it work. The work is in uncovering the right platform and then relentlessly executing on it in a million different tactical ways. A great creative platform is a force multiplier.

Let’s talk about how Tourism Tasmania did it.

✌️Amanda

How Tourism Tasmania Positioned the Island State into a Must-Visit Destination for Australians in the Dead of Winter

BACKSTORY

Tourism Tasmania is a fantastic example of excellent branding in a boring category (my favourite). For some reason, destination marketing has been bereft of decent branding and storytelling. When it’s done well, it really stands out. Until recently, Australians didn’t consider Tasmania a destination for travel. It’s not an easy place. More remote. Disproportionately disadvantaged. Low literacy rates. Cold!

On top of that, winter is the time that mainland Australians hunker down and wait for the season to be over. Or leave the country for warmer or more culturally interesting destinations.

But Tasmania’s difference is it’s strength, and it’s most different to the mainland in winter. Until recently it hasn’t had the confidence or the story to tell to capitalize on that point of difference.

This is how they developed that story.

BUSINESS STRATEGY

Brand strategy should support business strategy. Tourism Tasmania’s role:

Now that’s an organization that understands the long term investment of brand building.

BRAND STRATEGY

Tourism Tasmania are crystal clear about how they want to be positioned in people’s minds. It’s worth unpacking how they got here, because most brands don’t.

1. Listen deeply.  In 2018, Tasmania passed the Brand Tasmania Act, which established Tourism Tasmania as a Destination Marketing Organization. So what was their first act? It wasn’t briefing a creative campaign. It was listening. The team conducted hundreds of interviews and workshops with locals. The result? A strong, honest brand platform inspired by the local spirit. The difference between good and great brand work is the degree to which you understand the people the brand is for. 

2. Reposition Tasmania through storytelling. Brands that invest in getting their story right enjoy the benefits of increasing future demand (the definition of brand building). Tourism Tasmania crafted a slew of stories that demonstrate the really specific, quirky details of the Tasmanian people and experience: whisky made with a recycled clothes dryer, scallop pies, morning ocean dips. I can’t get enough of this writing and production.

3. Own the winter. It’s not an easy brief to sell ‘cold and dark’ to mainland Australians - the land of sunshine, beaches and brunch.  Tasmania isn’t an easy place. It’s the coldest, darkest place in Australia in winter. But strategically, it’s super smart. Winter is when Tasmania is most different from the mainland. Tourism Tasmania made the choice to invest in “the off season" with an annual winter campaign. All highlight uniquely Tassie experiences in winter: a winter solstice festival, a cold plunge, a montage of oysters, snowy walks and outdoor adventures.

4. Galvanize industry operators. One of the trickiest bits about operationalizing a brand? Who needs to use it, and what tools they need to do so. Tourism Tasmania doesn’t work without its network of tourism operators. Tourism Tasmania is their brand. But it’s hard, sweaty work to engage hundreds of stakeholders to get authentic brand work right - which is why most brands wouldn't attempt it. Tourism Tasmania’s campaign highlights over 400 tourism operators, encourages them to get involved in the campaign and provides them with brand tools to market themselves. Nice.

5. Brand marketing moves 💃

   Great brand platforms act as a springboard - not a straitjacket. Tourism Tasmania have proven that the Come Down for Air platform has legs. Here’s a few of my favorite pieces of brand marketing they’ve released. 

   • 🤖Tasman AI: Only a few months after the Sam Altman / Open AI drama, Tourism Tasmania released Tasman AI, a tongue-in-cheek invitation to submit a brief for a real Tasmanian artist. The timing, the tone, the connection to the brand platform was perfect. I guarantee a million businesses asked their marketing teams for ‘AI ideas’ and this is the only one I’ve seen that’s good (slide into my DMs with good examples if you’ve got ‘em)!  

   • 💼The Odd Jobs campaign: How do you get working professionals to consider Tasmania as a travel destination? Market the odd jobs that you’ll only find in Tasmania in winter, from wombat walker to truffle snuffler. I really loved this campaign. 

   • 👑 Views fit for a Queen: When Hobart-born Mary Elizabeth became Queen of Denmark, Tourism Tasmania published a cheeky print ad in Denmark, with the copy: “Down here our views are fit for a Queen. Just ask yours.” Lovely stuff. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: tone of voice can be a distinctive asset.

@tasmania

Replying to @jennncharlie - THE best thing ever! Swap your day job for an Odd Job in Tasmania. Apply and view all Odd Jobs via the link in... See more

THE BOTTOM LINE 💸

Has the brand done its job? Looking back at the role for the brand (drive tourism in the state), I’d say this is a resounding yes. Tourism Tasmania’s been running this brand platform since 2019, and in five short years they’ve driven $3.63B in tourism dollars in 2023 alone, an increase of 43% from 2019 levels. Impressive stuff.

What can we learn from Tourism Tasmania?

• ⛪️ Repetition doesn’t spoil the prayer. Rebrands are often one of the first things new CEOs or CMOs do to come in and make their mark on a company (see: Bumble). It’s often the wrong move. Tourism Tasmania’s Lindene Cleary, formerly the organization’s head of brand, held the brand platform steady and built on it each year. 🥳

• 🎨 Don’t skimp on the creative. Tourism Tasmania works with world class creatives. The production company behind the latest campaign was FINCH, the production company behind Chef’s Table. If you’re putting millions of dollars in spend behind a campaign, it’s worthwhile to get the creative right.

• ❄️ Own a season. An underrated strategy for owning a space in people’s minds is to own a day (Amazon Prime Day), holiday (John Lewis), or, in this case, a season. What’s brilliant about this? You don’t have to compete for airtime.

That’s all this week ✌️

Amanda

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