Tourism NZ heads to Facebook for new campaign

A scene from Tourism New Zealand's new 'Kombi Diaries' Facebook campaign.

Tourism New Zealand has launched a new campaign using a global partnership with Facebook.

The Kombi Diaries, a series of five short films following a couple's trip around New Zealand is the result of a direct collaboration between Tourism New Zealand and the social media giant.

The $250,000 global digital campaign will feature in nine markets; Australia, the United States, Germany, Britain, Japan, Brazil, France, India and Indonesia.

Tourism NZ's director of marketing, Andrew Fraser, said it was increasingly important to be able to work effectively across all digital platforms and working directly with Facebook was a great opportunity.

"Essentially what we did was go to Facebook and ask them to create a content idea that addressed some of the barriers faced by people who are actively considering coming to New Zealand."

Fraser said research showed that while this audience understood scenic attractions, there were gaps in their knowledge regarding their perceptions of infrastructure, ease of travelling around New Zealand and the variety of things to do and see.

"These are the people Tourism New Zealand wanted to target. They are not the 'fly and flop' type of visitor. They are the type of visitors looking for real experiences and appreciate authenticity."

Tourism New Zealand established a collaboration between production company, Symphony, and the Facebook creative team. The result is a "natural" story of two American tourists missing the train to Wellington from Britomart in Auckland and going on a Kombi road trip where they meet the locals and see the country.

The Facebook team went on the road trip and collaborated with the production crew and filmed their own content.

Fraser said Facebook provided two strong insights; to start each of the films in reverse to grab attention in the opening seconds and not restrict the films' length to 30 or 60 seconds , rather make the films as long as was necessary to tell the story.

See the first Kombi Diary video here: