Gaming in travel marketing: How Play NZ cut through in lockdown
Tapping into the gaming industry has paid off for Tourism New Zealand. After 18 months in the making, the Play NZ campaign from TBWA Sydney came about at a time when interest in gaming was at its peak. Here, Tourism New Zealand’s Andrew Waddel and TBWA’s Katrina Alvarez-Jarratt discuss with Zoe Wilkinson how they managed to cut through and keep travel top of mind.
It was almost serendipitous that Tourism New Zealand’s video game-like marketing push came at a time when Australians were holed up inside their homes and gaming was on the rise. Play NZ, the tour of the nation’s greatest cultural hotspots and natural wonders which looked so convincingly like a video game, was 18 months in the making with TBWA Sydney, but the need to play in lockdown as an outlet for stress and fear pushed the campaign into a new realm.
Tourism New Zealand’s general manager of Australia, Andrew Waddel, says it was important to tap into the notion of play in a “more positive positioning in the sense of entertainment and engagement” and draw the campaign away from the negative shadow cast by lockdown. As the campaign’s launch drew closer, it was an opportunity for Tourism NZ to enter a timely conversation.
“We’re adjusting our timing to be hyper-relevant,” Waddel says. “The other challenge for us was how do you talk about a country when you can’t travel? And, what if that travel border changes during that time?”
“We required agility not just to be hyper-relevant in the point in time… so we understood and respect the consumer in context, but also it was flexible enough to change from Play NZ when you can’t travel, or Play NZ virtually, and then we’re able to transition to Play NZ IRL, or in real life [if borders reopened].”
