"Good morning world" Welcome to New Zealand campaign video
Kiwis are being urged to make home movies to promote the country in what Tourism New Zealand says is its biggest overseas marketing campaign yet.
The videos would be part of a 366-day campaign showcasing the country's ''welcoming people and culture,'' the government agency says.
"We're asking New Zealanders to share their favourite place with the world by creating a 'good morning world' video and sharing it on social media,'' said Tourism NZ's chief executive, Stephen England-Hall.
The campaign is costing $3.05 million and while amature camera work is being sought, the agency has made its own videos for the latest version of the 20-year-old 100% Pure New Zealand campaign.
England-Hall said the aim was to capture classic Kiwi life.
"Think everyday locations, your local cafe, your dog walking spot, your favourite beach or even your local pie shop, We want raw, authentic stories from people,'' he said.
There's no payment for the homemade videos, rather they are done ''for love of New Zealand".'
Although the rate of tourism growth is slowing, there is local opposition to high visitor numbers in tourist hotspots and the campaign is seen as a way of getting New Zealanders enthused about tourism.
''The key here is that we want New Zealanders to understand that tourism is at the beating heart of the economy and our biggest export and we want New Zealanders to be part of that story.''
It would be a way of ''shifting the narrative'' from it being yet another ad campaign from a tourism board.
Tourism New Zealand, which has had its funding frozen for the last two years, is competing hard to attract visitors. England-Hall said the new ''Good Morning World'' campaign was a way of differentiating this country from others.
The campaign goes live through Tourism NZ's social channels in Australia [New Zealand's biggest market] tomorrow night with other key markets [China, the US, Britain, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, India, Singapore and Korea] to follow.
The campaign, developed by agency Special Group, has been tested with potential visitors to New Zealand.
About two-thirds of the material to be rolled out every day for a year is professionally shot but England-Hall wasn't expecting the supplied material to have the same production values. They could be simple videos shot on a phone.
''We expect there will be all sorts of content that people will produce, some of which we will want to leverage. Some of it will be entertaining - maybe not appropriate for international distribution. Some of it will be people wanting to place their product. From a brand management point of view that's something that we'll be keeping an eye on.''
Tourism New Zealand chief executive Stephen England-Hall. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Every two years Tourism New Zealand develops a new global campaign to showcase New Zealand as a destination to target high-value visitors.
The new campaign opens with an overarching "Welcome" video. This stars an 8-year-old and an elder from Gisborne witnessing a sunrise on top of Mount Hikurangi, one of the first places in the world to see the sun rise.
It centres on the concept of Kiwis having a bit of time up their sleeves because they are one of the first to rise.
Guidelines for budding film-makers will be made available through Tourism NZ tomorrow.
Although it has faced criticism given New Zealand's spotty environmental record, the 100% Pure is the longest running destination campaign in the world.
