Tourism Australia had a bit of a laugh and earned fresh fans with its teasers and a Super Bowl ad for Dundee: The Son of a Legend Return.
It is all an homage to the original Crocodile Dundee. That film which was a huge success in the 80s spun off from the popularity of a 1984 Tourism Australia commercial which starred Paul Hogan, popularizing the phrase: “put another shrimp on the barby.”
1984 Paul Hogan Australia ad:
Hogan has a brief cameo in this year’s Super Bowl re-boot.
Tourism Australia 2018 Super Bowl Ad:
The ads/film shorts, developed by agency Droga5, star Danny McBride as Brian Dundee, Chris Hemsworth as Wally Jr. The extended trailer brings in many other top stars including Margot Robbie, Russel Crowe, Hugh Jackman, Isla Fisher, Ruby Rose, Liam Hemsworth, Jessica Mauboy and Luke Bracey.
The stars shine in Dundee Official Extended Trailer:
Tourism Australia invested $29 million (A$36 million) in the campaign, supported by Qantas, American Airlines and Wine Australia. It was projected to have been seen by more than 100 million Americans during the game.
Tourism Australia also created a dedicated website for the film that offers Qantas flights deals and travel inspiration for a host of activities featured in the official Super Bowl ad, and is running a related social media campaign.
Australia’s Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, the Hon Steven Ciobo MP said 2018 “presented the perfect opportunity to ‘aggressively target’ the US market.”
“The United States is a critical market for Australia, with close to 780,000 American visitors spending A$3.7 billion per year. A favorable exchange rate and strong aviation capacity leading to highly competitive airfares makes this the right time to increase our investment in the United States.
“Whilst Australia ranks highly among Americans in terms of desirability and awareness of our tourism offerings, we lag behind our competitors when it comes to actual bookings. This new campaign will address this conversion challenge.
“This is the single largest investment Tourism Australia has ever made in the US market and one we believe will grow annual spend by American visitors to A$6 billion by the year 2020.
“It's amazing to have Australia's stars come together for their country and support this campaign. Aussie icons like Chris Hemsworth, Margot Robbie and Hugh Jackman are huge in the US, their popularity will help showcase Australia and get the message out to visit Australia.”
Tourism Australia managing director John O’Sullivan said the promotional power of the Crocodile Dundee franchise today was “as a strong as when the original movie was released in 1986.”
“Crocodile Dundee put Australia on the map for Americans in the '80s. The film helped shape their view of Australia, showing them our country's natural beauty and Australians’ friendly and welcoming nature. And it remains relevant today, with our research showing that Mick ‘Crocodile’ Dundee is still a character Americans believe warmly represents the Australian way of life.
“Chris and Danny, along with the cameo appearances in the teasers from so many well-known Australian stars, has given us real star power to capture America’s attention again. The Big Game has the largest reach of any advertising platform in the US, with more than 100 million Americans tuning in and many more millions globally. It's the perfect platform to begin rolling out our biggest tourism push in the US in over 30 years, with more than 20 commercial partners primed to start converting the huge interest we've generated into bookings.”
Frankly, they’re going to have to make this movie now, the trailer is that good.
Delta and its partner Virgin Australia tweeted a related promotion during the Super Bowl of a #TouchdownDownUnder social media contest, giving away a trip to Australia.
https://twitter.com/delta/status/960286855362211840