Tourism WA launches ‘Experience Extraordinary’
Tourism WA has launched it’s new brand positioning, ‘Experience Extraordinary’, and the first campaign under the new positioning: The Extraordinary Taxi Ride.
Speaking at the launch in Kings Park, WA Premier Colin Barnett said: “What’s being launched today is different, it is unusual, it is special. And we need to be that…we need to be willing to take some risks and do something different so that this state and all that it has to offer is seen as unique and special.”
Over 9 weeks, 11 couples will travel throughout WA over 11 different legs, being joined by ‘celebrity guests’ along the way.
With obvious strategic borrowings from Queensland’s game-changing’Best Job in the World’, consumer interaction is at the heart of thecampaign created by Sydney agency Host. Voting for which of the five finalist taxi drivers will takethe passengers on the statewide journey has already begun. Thecompetition to be a passenger commences on March 1, with entrants beingencouraged to submit videos in support of their applications.
The taxi ride will be filmed and the story of the journey will be toldonline, in press, on radio, outdoor and on television. Kate Lamont,Tourism WA chair said: “We believe we will achieve at least 6 times thevalue of our investment for our broadcast partnership throughleveraging PR opportunities surrounding the campaign.”
32 Comments
Isn’t it funny how you can win a ride in a taxi… it is so hard to get a taxi as it is in perth!!!
Yes Colin, it is “special” but not in the way you mean
Doesn’t look like any West Australian taxi I’ve ever seen…
So what bit of this contains the unique insight that could only be acquired from an agency in Sydney? The shot of Cable Beach? The whale shark?
OK granted, the taxi idea probably wouldn’t have been presented by an agency from the west.
“Experience Extraordinary” is an OK line in the way that “Expect the Unexpected” is an OK line.
The initial sharp pain of the kick in the balls that losing the account to the east is now followed by the dull throbbing of seeing the ho-hum-ness of what they did with it.
The Best Job in the World vs trip in a WA taxi – really?
Sounds like a big production that will be good news for the local industry.Do we know what percentage of local production talent is being used?
Extra ordinary!
it’s nice it’s different it’s unusual?
Anyone got the credits for this campaign?
Anyone seen page 14 of today’s West? It looks like the camels have been set against bad 80’s blue-screen.
Lets judge this on results. Please hold…
Guess what peeps… They’re doing something different! Put away the sour grapes and suck it up.
i think that even if HOST came up with a brilliant campaign, we (west coast) would still rip it to shreds.
that said, experience extraordinary is ordinary in itself, and no taxi looks like that in perth. to even use a taxi in the campaign is ordinary, especially when taxis are a joke and you can barely ever get one.
perth has a number of amazing CVPs – i would have liked to see a unique perspective and promoting the perth lifestyle over a taxi ride.
9.38am
The insight that could only come from the east is that the taxi ride is based on an original journey from Melbourne to Darwin – both key WA tourist destinations
http://www.tourism.wa.gov.au/Experience_Extraordinary/Pages/About_The_Extraordinary_Taxi_Ride.aspx
Here’s to local relevance
Jon
I think we have every right to sour grapes. It is our bloody taxes after all that the client didn’t think worthy of spending in the state. You don’t think 303 would have produced something as strong as this?
Harry Huggins aka Marty Braine gets my vote.
http://www.extraordinarytaxiride.com.au/the-driver.php
Gibb River Road in a taxi?
Is that even a WA Number Plate?
The TV component of this campaign WILL be produced by a non-WA production company.
This was a creative agency pitch, right? So only the creative & production dollars have been invested east. Mitchells Perth is noted as the media agency (http://mumbrella.com.au/tourism-wa-launches-new-positioning-and-taxi-ride-campaign-17613#more-17613 ), so guess that the bulk of overall spend is still being planned & booked locally.
Wonder what the creative vs media spend split is though? Must be targeted to an eastern states audience as would seem crazy to promote taxis to a WA audience! (also I haven’t seen any ads yet….must be wrong age group)
1.22PM
303 maybe. Marketforce no way.
I hope there are some local production crew required. I’d give my left nut to work with Glue (I presume they are involved?) on a road trip. Gibb River here I come.
This bitching looks bad guys and girls. It’s happened, it’s not great, but lets move on, stop moaning and try and win some business back from the Eastern States.
Kinda cute idea if you look at it from a fresh perspex.
Should be a beefed up 4WD taxi though. Skippered by Ben Cousins and ten hot swedish backpackers. Now THAT’d be a taxi ride worth winning.
Chill,
Totally disagree. This is a bad decision that we should continue bitch endlessly about it. It was in public servants and pollies who are in our employ that made this decision and the more bitching there is about it the more pause for thought that there will be before a decision like this is taken again. So for my money there’s not been nearly enough bitching.
Yeah Vote Harry Huggins
While your there ask him how well he played in the 1994 I Grade “Sav’s all stars” Grand Final for North Beach.
The guy is a legend!
As far as local production crew for the making of the large budget TV commercial…total is….NONE!
are you serious? the bitching looks bad? it is bad! it makes no sense, its cliche and frankly an insult to the talent here. We are considered a joke on the east coast, this will just amplify it. I worked on the east coast for 13 years and i know our reputation. its appalling. A taxi ride isnt going to help.. good lord. stop thinking of the east coast as bigger and better, we have more talent than most agencies .. just because our budgets arent as big, doesnt mean our talent is lacking. Lose the small child syndrome and call it for what it is.
This subject is also gaining comments on the Campaign Brief Australian website. This is my favourite so far:
The initial concept was to find a chauffer and have a limmo take the participants around the state in style but the WA government saw it as an opportunity to lift the profile of the failing taxi industry of Perth. SB said “what a wonderful idea”.
If you’re ever approached by the WA gov to do some work, run! Idiots!!!
See also http://www.campaignbrief.com/2010/02/tourism-wa-launches-experience.html#comments
I can’t believe this got up.
Why are we spending millions on creating, promoting and publicising a West-Australian tourism experience so impractical that the average tourist cannot reproduce it?
Why do the agency and government staff involved think that travelling these particular routes in a taxi would be pleasant? (I’ve travelled most of the intended routes at one time or another – doing so in a taxi would be sheer murder! Or at least doing one in the average *Perth* taxi would be sheer murder.)
Are we to assume that the locations in question have no inherent interest of their own – so the agency in question has no choice but to create novelty value around a method of transport?
Why does Ms Lamont think that campaign is worthy of enough PR for the State Government to triple its investment twice over? No matter what the destinations are, personally I can’t see international / eastern states visitors or national / international media maintaining sustained interest in what is essentially a two-month, thousand-plus kilometre commute (…hell, I’m getting bored with the idea already).
Doesn’t this campaign also present some risk of setting up unrealistic expectations in the minds of overseas travellers? (Every Australian Road map I own mentions the dangers of under-estimating the distance between towns in rural WA. Yet here we are asking people to accept the inference that traversing these distances in a taxi is potentially feasible and pleasurable).
All the above leapt to mind within three minutes of seeing this campaign – I could go on, but I thnik I’ve already given this idea more attention than it deserves. No doubt the State Government were given acceptable answers to all these questions during the approvals process (in which case Ms Lamont, I’m all ears). Otherwise I must assume that such questions were never asked or thought of.
I hope the former is correct, but having worked on State Government accounts before, I know it’s probably the latter.
This announced in the same week as Stephen Satchell – ‘Perth’s Number One Taxi Driver’ – gets arrested for driving his cab – complete with paying passenger – whilst allegedly having a blood alcohol content of 0.109.
For the full story: http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/perths-taxi-driver-voice-on-drink-drive-charge/story-e6frg12c-1225827403882
You’ve got your lead talent right there. OPEN ON: shot of Perth’s #1 cab driver having a couple for the road. Staggers to cab. Fumbles for keys and eventually opens driver’s door. Reverses cab into parked car. Smiles at camera and burps. CUT TO: the same driver giving slurred and virtually incomprehensible commentary about the Pinnacles (it’s always the Pinnacles) as he tries to manoeuvre his cab through the slalom course created by the ancient rock formations. Etc Etc.
The rest of the campaign writes itself.
6.01.
Don’t laugh, they’ve probably sold the concept into ORS as an integrated placement.
10:00, well said.