Visit Victoria has unveiled its first new campaign since departing from its long running 'Jigsaw' platform.
The new 'Wander Victoria' campaign which now sees it calling for Melbournians to leave the city and wander, is the first in a new long-term strategy was launched today in Lorne.
The Victorian Government has invested $3 million into the campaign with Regional Tourism Boards co-oping marketing investment. It's understood to have been three years in the making, and was created by Clemenger BBDO Melbourne,
The campaign uses the tag line 'Victoria have a Wander' and promotes the natural environment in the state as an antidote to the 'always on' nature of the city.
It's the first work for the tourism body after it rebranded its logo in August last year, departing with the highly-awarded 'Jigsaw' positioning, designed by then Mojo Partners. This had been used by the brand for more than 20 years.
Tourism Victoria’s Jigsaw campaign was recognised as one of Australia’s most respected and successful tourism marketing and advertising campaigns. Dating back to 1993, Mojo Partners developed the slogan "You’ll love every piece of Victoria".
Visit Victoria director of marketing Melanie De Souza says the new campaign is part of the new platform and is part of the government’s aim of brining all elements of the visitor economy under the one, integrated umbrella.
She also says that early testing of the new campaign has actually seen it perform better than the original 'Jigsaw' banner.
“We wanted something that was going to be quite distinct in the travel category,” De Souza says.
“So there is a quirky feel to the creative, a much slower pace and a narrative that is different.”
The campaign will run across television, cinema, social media channels and digital, using the hashtag #wandervictoria.
The hashtag will be used by regional tourism vendors in order to propagate their own content for the campaign.
The campaign also marks the first time the tourism body will target intrastate travel, with Melbournians the focus on the strategy. The intrastate market is the largest source of visitors to regional Victoria and has been experiencing a long-term decline with increasing competition and changing in lifestyle behaviour.
“We had a problem with the way Melbournians were consuming regional Victoria and we needed to re-engage their hearts and minds about what is on their doorstep,” De Souza says.
“The argument in the old days was that you don’t worry about money that is circulating within the economy, but when it's not actually circulating and is a lost opportunity because it's being spent elsewhere, then you’ve got a real problem.”
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