With international travel off the cards, we had to find an entirely new way to target and sustain engagement with our standard Australian travel audience. Capitalising on the rise in gaming during lockdown and the shared values of gamers and travellers (exploration and adventure), we spoke to our travel audience through an entirely new lens – gaming. Behaving like no other Tourism brand, our media approach reflected this world-first idea and ran entirely through gaming channels.

2020 was a devastating year for the international tourism industry. The pandemic closed international borders and tourism as we know it is on hold.

With New Zealand the #1 outbound destination for Aussie travellers, we had a very real responsibility to keep travellers connected to our people and place while international borders remained closed. We also had an adventure starved audience looking for entertainment and adventure.

Pre Covid, we also faced a unique challenge. The 100% Pure New Zealand brand was facing increasing pressure from up-and-coming destinations such as Japan, and the locally trending options like South Australia and Tasmania which were quickly rising on travellers’ preference lists.

We had to defend our #1 position, increase brand preference and keep New Zealand top of mind in a locked down world.

With online gaming spiking, we found a way to engage an adventure-starved housebound audience. We marketed the entire country like a game. PLAY NZ is a rich brand experience that gives people playful, interactive content to engage with.

Launched with a Twitch live stream, Australian gaming influencer Loserfruit led thousands on a journey through the best of New Zealand, featuring a “gamer walkthrough” where she “played” the country and interacted live.

Every channel targeted gaming media, mimicking an online game launch. From teasers and trailers that hinted at the coming “game” to gamer reviews.

The world-first creative idea spread the campaign from just hardcore gamers to travellers and those playful at heart through the use of PR and beloved New Zealander, Julian Dennison.

Finally, we invited future travellers to an immersive hub where they could explore VR180° films – encouraging itinerary-building behaviours.

In a time of overused Covid cliches, we chose to do something bold and disruptive to stay connected with travellers, taking the path less travelled to find a unique audience truth.

The gaming audience was well established before Covid-19 – already the #1 form of digital entertainment in Australia. As global lockdowns forced the world to spend more time indoors, we saw gaming skyrocket by over 75%.

Gaming in isolation became an escape while helping people stay connected. People found creative ways to incorporate play into their everyday lives, embracing the notion of “play time”. Beyond the growing audience size, research also showed that gamers have a lot in common with travellers, despite the outdated stereotypes — both are about exploration, connection and adventure.

So, we set out to address this audience in their context and invite them to see New Zealand in a new light.

To achieve this we partnered with Twitch, and Australian gaming heavyweight Loserfruit. She teased the content on her social platforms prelaunch, then "played" the country live to her 4.7 million-strong audience.

The 9-minute “gamer walkthrough” film was housed on YouTube and showcased unique experiences that set New Zealand apart from other destinations, sharing New Zealand’s culture, people and places.

We continued to mimic a real game launch by using game teasers and trailers, digital banners and in-app ads in gaming media channels featuring real gamers’ reviews. The campaign garnered a wealth of PR interest across online gaming publications, as well as mainstream channels, such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok – engaging a broader demographic.

Then we drove future travellers to the PLAYNZ immersive entertainment hub where they were met with 18x VR180° films aimed at inspiring future itineraries for when the borders officially reopen.

Intent to visit New Zealand post lockdown increased by +387%* and we maintained our #1 position as the preferred destination for Aussie travellers**.

Though the campaign is still live, we’ve already seen a shift in our brand metrics with a 53% lift in ad recall and 10% lift in favourability.

Campaign engagement is high; reaching over 100 million people. Our films already have over 15 million views.

PR coverage has a universally positive sentiment with 150+ unique earned articles. The live Twitch launch reached thousands of die-hard gamers and our film has since reached over 3.5 million.

Finally, we’ve achieved an average website dwell time of over 9 minutes (280% above benchmark) and a 37% increase in user interaction on our website content.

*Facebook brand lift study vs. Asia Pacific uplift benchmark

**Tourism New Zealand AC monitor