Travel Marketing Summit: ‘There were some difficult conversations’ – How Abbie Chatfield’s ‘risqué’ content proved to be a hit for Tourism NT
When Australian media personality Abbie Chatfield teamed up with Tourism NT, the move was seen by some as a risk. But the results speak for themselves.
Appearing on stage at last week’s Travel Marketing Summit in Sydney, Tourism NT’s director domestic marketing, Monika Tonkin, and Edelman’s head of digital, Henry Taylor, discussed the partnership that launched late last year – ChatNT, an AI travel expert.
Inspired by ChatGPT, ChatNT used OpenAI’s advanced language processing capabilities to generate accurate ‘Abbie-like’ responses to questions about summer holidaying in the NT.
Tonkin said the team considered Chatfield – who rose to fame on reality show The Bachelor Australia – a “true reflection” of the brand and was a perfect fit for the campaign, but her “risque” content meant that there were some conversations that needed to be had with senior management.
Taylor (left) and Tonkin (right)
“We knew she would cut through with the younger audience,” Tonkin said.
“There were some difficult, odd and slightly uncomfortable conversations, with the team justifying to our CEO and senior management… we had to really work for their support.”
However, the campaign was a huge success for Tourism NT. ChatNT increased time spent on Northernterritory.com by over 70%, and garnered a social reach of over 1.54 million.
Abbie Chatfield
Despite any prior concern of aligning the brand with a high-profile name, Taylor said that the biggest lesson from the campaign was simply to “jump in”.
“Be aware of how much you don’t know, and how much you don’t know you’re going to not know as well,” he said.
“Keep them on board, don’t hide things from them, keep them transparent and true and, you’ll get there.”
The work also saw Tourism NT pick up the Best Celebrity or Influencer Campaign award at the Mumbrella Travel Marketing Awards last week.
Check out all the winners here.
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Neil Griffiths is the Managing Editor of Mumbrella. He joined the company in October 2023.
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Abbie Chatfield
ChatNT
Edelman
Henry Taylor
Monika Tonkin
Mumbrella Travel Marketing Awards
Mumbrella Travel Marketing Summit 2024
Tourism NT
I don think hiring Abbie is controversial or risky! We’re talking about NT Tourism – the same people who approved the See You NT campaign! Plus the NT News is the best newspaper in the country! Abbie is on brand and a no brainer. PS – LOVE Abbie.
This is a case study on the dangers of partnering with ‘personalities’
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A case study in the dangers of pinning your brand to ‘personalities’
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