Three New Australian talents are being used to lure international tourists down under
STEP aside Hollywood heart-throb Chris Hemsworth and welcome three new talents to draw international tourists down under.
National
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THE nation’s newest tourism campaign has gone from using an international Hollywood heart-throb to three much lesser-known celebrities in an attempt to lure travellers down under.
Step aside Byron-based global superstar Chris Hemsworth — Tourism Australia’s latest recruits include actor Lincoln Lewis, Wallabies rugby union player Nick Cummins (AKA the Honey Badger) and TV presenter Teigan Nash — who have all been hand-picked to attract youth and working holiday makers.
The new $5 million youth campaign, includes “Aussie News Today,” an online tongue-in-cheek online news channel and features comical vision of a koala shopping and kangaroos fighting in a suburban street, all aimed at highlighting unique Australians experiences and showcasing eye-catching locations to snare jetsetters.
THE ONE THING AUSTRALIANS REALLY SUCK AT
TA will use social media channels to issue uplifting news stories of daily life down under.
But the three new anchors are understood to be getting paid far less than Hemsworth who was given an estimated $450,000 for his role as a TA global ambassador.
Hemsworth has drawn $160 million in advertising value to Australia since he began took up the reigns in 2017, but TA declined to reveal contractual details of the three new talents.
It’s understood they are paid a combined total of less than $100,000 for their involvement.
TA’s managing director John O’Sullivan said the new campaign will target 18-29 year-olds globally and he said choice of the three new talents was not based on their celebrity status.
“What we know is that with youth travellers it’s awareness of experiences and content that really drives their destination choices, we don’t necessarily have to use celebrity to do that,’’ he said.
“We take a horses for courses approach and for is that is really about getting that content into young peoples’ feeds and using talent that can talk in their language as well, that’s why we went with Teigan, Lincoln and the Honey Badger.”
He has not ruled out using Hemsworth for future campaigns and said the trio’s social media following was not critical to signing them up.
TA famously used model Lara Bingle in them 2006 campaign for the controversial ads, “So where the bloody hell are you” which drew international attention.
Mr O’Sullivan said of the 8 million visitors to Australia each year about 2.1 million are youth travellers who spend about $19 billion a year while down under.
Teigan Nash said she was excited about being involved in the campaign and “it was about having fun,” and the focus was not on trying to boost her social media followings.
Tourism Minister Steve Ciobo said the campaign will kickstart in four key markets before expanding further including the “United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy and builds on back-to-back working holiday maker campaigns rolled out by Tourism Australia in key western and eastern markets between October 2016 and October 2017,’’ he said.
sophie.elsworth@news.com.au
SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWERS
Lincoln Lewis
Twitter: 70,900
Instagram: 124,000
Teigan Nash
Instagram: 18,600*
Twitter: 1600*
Nick Cummins (AKA Honey Badger)
Twitter: 63,800
Instagram: 231,000
Facebook: 202,000
Chris Hemsworth
Twitter: 2.63 million
Instagram: 11.5 million
Facebook: 5.9 million
*NB: These are not authenticated accounts.
Originally published as Three New Australian talents are being used to lure international tourists down under