Tourism Australia’s Dundee ad wins Logie

The inaugural Logie for most popular TV commercial goes to Tourism Australia’s Dundee ad.

American actor Danny McBride in the Dundee ad.

The inaugural Logie for Australia’s most popular television commercial has been awarded to Tourism Australia’s Dundee ad, featuring Australian movie star Chris Hemsworth and US actor Danny McBride.

Bauer Media, which publishes TV Week magazine, has announced the winning ad, which was produced by ad agency UM and Droga5, ahead of the glitzy Logie Awards ceremony on June 30.

The 60 second Dundee ad appears at first to be a film trailer for a new Crocodile Dundee movie, but then highlights the country’s natural beauty and tourist attractions. It debuted during the hugely popular Super Bowl last year in February.

The Dundee ad campaign was the largest Tourism Australia had run in the US since Paul Hogan’s famous Come Say G’Day ads more than 30 years ago.

Tourism Australia managing director John O’Sullivan said the Dundee ad had achieved the “ultimate success of capturing the imagination of both Americans and Australians alike”.

The new ad category announced by Bauer January was open to any TV commercial that aired on Australian TV between January 1 and December 31, 2018.

The TV Week Logie Awards will be held for a second year in a row on the Gold Coast in Queensland after its controversial move from Melbourne.