New Zealand might have secured some hits with its online presence in recent years but it has a long way to go before it reaches the pinnacle of DMO branding achieved by its Pacific neighbour in the form of Queensland in Australia.
But the country's tourism authorities are prepared to give it a go and have brought in favourite son Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings trilogy fame) to help with an online film directing competition.
Launching in a few weeks time, Your Big Break is a simple idea to attract wannabe film-makers to create a screenplay that capture's the tourist board's message of "100% Pure New Zealand".
The organisers have tried to make the application process as easy as possible:
The first thing you need to do is write a three-minute screenplay on how you would ‘Capture the spirit of 100% Pure New Zealand - the youngest country on earth’.
You submit your screenplay. It is highly recommended you also supply supporting material in a 60 second video pitch to camera to bring your idea to life. It could include rough storyboards, stock footage edits, narratives etc.
- The first thing you need to do is write a three-minute screenplay on how you would ‘Capture the spirit of 100% Pure New Zealand - the youngest country on earth’.
- You submit your screenplay. It is highly recommended you also supply supporting material in a 60-second video pitch to camera to bring your idea to life. It could include rough storyboards, stock footage edits, narratives etc.
After an initial shortlisting process, four finalists, plus one selected by an online vote, will be flown to New Zealand in 2010 to direct their three-minute clips with the help of Rings' producer
Barrie Osborne.
The campaign doesn't have the aspirational message of the Queensland campaign (Best Job in the World), but given New Zealand's success in using the Rings and Jackson as marketing commodities in recent years it could be an interesting exercise in using online tools such as video to get people interested in the idea and, of course, New Zealand.