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THE TASK OF PRODUCING AND DELIVERING A NEW MARKETING CAMPAIGN FOR THE FAR NORTH HAS FALLEN TO A FORMER CAIRNS WOMAN WHOSE PASSION FOR THE FAR NORTH NEVER FADED, WRITES ALICIA NALLY
TASKED with producing a new marketing campaign for the tropical north could not be a project closer to Alexa McGrath’s heart.
Even though the Trinity Beach girl left Cairns at 21 and only returned in December, 17 years later, with a husband and two daughters in tow, the Nick Did This account director said it took very little time to settle back in.
Winning the lucrative Tourism Tropical North Queensland contract in May gave Nick Did This founder Nick Pritchard the impetus to put Ms McGrath, an employee of four years, in charge of the new Cairns office with a view to keep expanding the Far Northern reach of the firm.
Ms McGrath was already on-board with client CQUniversity and part of the team that created the tertiary institution’s recent, highly successful advertising campaign, so it made sense to base her where CQU was growing rapidly.
With 21 staff, Nick Did This – which operates a Brisbane office – already had clients all over regional Australia, so setting up an office in Cairns was a no-brainer.
With experience in agencies in Melbourne and London and having run her own agency, Rock Paper Scissors, Ms McGrath has already hit the ground running talking to tourism operators all over Tropical North Queensland.
She will develop a two-year plan encompassing marketing campaigns and public relations covering Cardwell north to the Torres Strait and west to the Gulf Savannah, to be launched next year.
“What we’re working on is getting the brand story right, getting the storytelling component of this region out there,” she explained.
“There are a lot of unique experiences here.
“Experiential marketing is the key.
“You’ve got to be able to appeal to that experience that everyone can have.
“The challenges for the region are there – the weather is one but strategies to combat that will be a starting point. Bali has just done a campaign about what you can do in the rain there.
“I had always wondered in the past what Cairns stood for and now I’m working on telling everyone about that.
“For me, it’s the people and the relaxed lifestyle. Growing up here, there was no tall poppy syndrome, ‘no us and them’. You’d never know who had money, there’d be surgeons talking to tradesmen. I couldn’t think of anywhere else to bring up my girls.
“We’re all getting used to the nature side of things and the creepy crawlies that can come in but it’s that connection to the water and the rainforest that make this place so special. It’s pristine.”
Convincing husband Rowan Pyke to move to Cairns wasn’t even something Ms McGrath had to do – the former Ballarat boy already has family in the city and the pair met at Salthouse.
With her mum and sister just around the corner, the couple’s children are Ms McGrath’s biggest achievement, even though she laughed recalling she always thought it would be her career.
Despite this, she has a “real, personal vested interest” in making her latest brief from TTNQ work.
“And it will be successful,” she said. “It’s still in the initial stages but I’ve had conversations with operators and the common thread is they’re all very passionate about the region.
“They understand there’s a need to get the storytelling right and they’ve basically said, ‘yep, what have we got to do?’ and are ready.
“People are fully aware of the last few months and how tough it has been but I personally think tourism is dependent on a lot of factors, not just weather.”
The loss of Cathay Pacific come October is also not anything to worry unnecessarily about, said Ms McGrath.
“I’m quite a positive person so I don’t think it’s going to have a huge impact when we have other airlines ready to take over where they’ve left off,” she said.
“You’ve got to keep that positive momentum going. That’s what I see.
“Cairns has changed so much since I was last living here and most of that has been positive.
“There are more bars – especially craft beer bars – and there are restaurants and new projects.”
WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON IS GETTING THE BRAND STORY RIGHT, GETTING THE STORYTELLING COMPONENT OF THIS REGION OUT THERE ALEXA MCGRATH