Brooklyn Oyster Farm Tours.
Sydney is a victim of its own success.
Once visited and its iconic sites -- the bridge, Opera House, harbour -- ticked off, there’s little incentive to return.
Been there, done that.
Sydney was ranked as one of Time Out’s top five global cities for culture, but when you ask Australians about Sydney they’ll say: “I’ve already seen the Harbour Bridge.”
This is the marketing problem Destination NSW set out to solve.
And it has gone all out to retire Sydney’s well worn harbour wonders and reveal hidden delights in Australia’s biggest city and to experience feelings you’ve never felt before.
The pitch: We have the Blue Mountains, beaches, the Great Southern Reef, and vineyards all within a couple hours. We have world leading restaurants, an exciting blend of food cultures, the largest sporting events and a vibrant arts and music scene.
The campaign targets high-yield travellers aged 25 to 54 within Australia, specifically South East Queensland, Melbourne and regional New South Wales.
This demographic is rich in experience seekers, looking for the new and unique when they travel, packing in as much as they can.
The campaign builds on the 2021 Feel New, the first brand campaign in a decade, designed to meet pent up demand for travel post the COVID pandemic.
Audiences who have engaged with the Feel New brand are more likely to book a trip or extend their stay, according to research by Destination NSW. This has injected an additional $323 million into the NSW visitor economy to date since launch in 2021.
Feel New 2.0 is an extension of the 2021 pitch.
“The Sydney brand campaign is very much an extension of the Feel New platform,” Kathryn Illy, general manager, consumer marketing, Destination NSW, told AdNews.
“We feel New is our logo, our brand, but this is a campaign specifically targeted for Sydney, for domestic audiences.
“We're in a different time from COVID, we've come out of that, and this is the next evolution of our brand campaign.”
Brand marketing plays an important role in delivering on the NSW visitor economy target of $91 billion by 2035, by increasing appeal and consideration among prospective travellers.
The Sydney shift in focus, from iconic destinations to hidden marvels, comes from research insights.
Internationally, Sydney is ranked number one as a place to visit. Everybody knows the city.
But among Australians, it's ranked number three, behind Melbourne and the Gold Coast.
The problem is that almost 8 in 10 (79%) Australian travellers have been to Sydney.
And most have been to the Opera House, seen the Harbour Bridge, been to Bondi and taken a ferry on the harbour.
“The problem statement that we're seeking to overcome with this campaign is, how do we get Australian travellers to reappraise Sydney?” said Kathryn Illy at Destination NSW.
“And we're doing that by bringing together all these experiences that really stand Sydney out and make it different to any of the other cities.
“Melbourne may be known for the culture and the coffee. We know that Queensland, or the Coast in particular, may be known for its wonderful, beautiful beaches.
“But no other city, a global city, has the collision of both of those coming together.
“You can be in the global city and 15 minutes later be surfing at a beach or walking in a national park.”
The campaign takes a different route to traditional destination, tourism marketing.
“There's a lot of sea of sameness and we've deliberately moved and shifted away from that to be quite bold, creative, different, distinct,” said Illy.
“You need to have that creative cut through. We wanted to create a level of interest and intrigue.
“We’re bringing the campaign idea of unexpected experiences, these hidden gems that they may not have known about Sydney.
“I know it for its beaches, and I know it for the harbour, the bridge, and I know it for the Opera House, but I may not know that it's got this beautiful food or these drinks .”
Destination NSW has created four films showcasing different experiences.
Each protagonist in the films feels and experiences something new that they've never felt before.
“It's very much around that premise of, wow, I never realised that,” she said. "I never knew Sydney had those types of experiences.”
The campaign is rolling out across TV, outdoor, radio, digital and social channels to the end of August.
Creative is by Leo Australia, OMD (media buy), Ogilvy (web), FINCH (film), Rolla (content capture), production partners Photoplay (photography) The Editors (post production) and Otis (sound).
For the campaign, Destination NSW partnered with six local icons of culture – a group of creatives, tastemakers and trailblazers, who bring a local voice to experiencing Sydney.
These include Olympian Jess Fox, comedic duo The Inspired Unemployed, ultra-marathon runner Nedd Brockmann, content mastermind Lucinda Price (aka Froomes), ARIA-winning musician Budjerah and chef Dan Hong.
Each culture icon curated their own personal itinerary, offering a fresh, feeling-led way to experience the city, whether it’s the energy of an early-morning harbour kayak with Jess Fox or taking in the beauty of the Hawkesbury River and freshly picked oysters on a Sydney Oyster Tour with Dan Hong.
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