During the pandemic, New Zealand’s tourism industry, once the jewel in the economy's crown (and one of our largest export industries) was brought to a standstill.

With borders closed for two years, we used the opportunity to reset. Prior years had seen a proliferation of the backpacker – tourists looking for cheap holidays, who took a lot from our culture, economy, nature and society and gave little in return. We didn’t want these tourists any longer. We wanted tourists who vowed to look after New Zealand, in exchange for an unforgettable trip.

To kickstart the NZ tourism industry, we needed high quality tourists; tourists looking for meaningful cultural and natural experiences, and were willing to pay for them.

New Zealand as a nation is about as hard to get to as any, so we needed to go after those willing to give a little more, looking for a little more.

IF YOU SEEK.

A tourism campaign that doesn't show the wonders.

It doesn't let you hear the sounds, or the stories or meet the creatures. It doesn’t blow you away with the vistas, the music, the culture or the rich flavours and sunsets. It doesn't do what tourism ads do.

This tourism campaign conceals. It tempts, frustrates, teases, but never reveals all.

It compels the viewer to seek this place for themselves. That's when they get to truly experience this place and satisfy all the senses we deprived to get them here. Don’t you enjoy the movie more when the trailer hasn’t shown you everything?

Each execution in this campaign imbued the Maori concept of "manaakitanga" – a concept of mutual reciprocity. The idea that to get, one must first give, rewarding those who choose to seek.

Those are the kind of high value visitors we needed after our long pandemic closure.

While being effortless to navigate, each experience demanded the user give something in return for the experience. Silence, time, steps, the joining of a fellowship. That is manaakitanga.

In the case of Aoraki, we asked users to give their energy, in the form of steps. Then they enjoy the wonder.

Above the line, executions teased the audience with the nation’s wonders, but

never fully revealed them. The curious, those prepared to look a little deeper and give a little more (the kind of visitors we were looking for after our long pandemic closure) were rewarded with a little more in 6 unique mobile-centric digital experiences.

Each imbued the Maori concept of "manaakitanga" – a concept of mutual reciprocity. The idea that to get, one must first give, rewarding those who choose to

seek. Those are the kind of high value visitors we needed.

The UI design is purposefully minimal giving more impact to the natural and cultural wonder on display. This UX is part of a more cohesive style that creates familiarity across the different experiences, and makes the most of inherent phone interactions accessible from a mobile browser like the accelerometer and touch screen.

While being effortless to navigate and a joy to experience, each experience demanded the user give something in return for the experience. Silence, time, steps, the joining of a fellowship. That is manaakitanga.

Our campaign has only been live for six months now but it’s already proving a huge success.

Preference for New Zealand as a result of seeing our campaign is the highest Meta has ever seen in the entire travel category. And is at an all time high for the nation.

We've seen a 590% increase in visits to NZ.com.

Crucially, we’ve seen our decision to target high-quality tourists pay off.

Holiday arrivals are recovering gradually in all our key markets, with Australia recovering strongly to 74% of visitor arrivals in October, but close to 100% recovery of spending. Today’s tourists are contributing more to New Zealand’s economy than ever before, whilst ensuring they’re in no way damaging our culture, society or nature.

134 million video views, 1.3 million website visits and 194,859 referrals to tourism operators from key markets.

0 epic vistas revealed.