World famous, and in New Zealand
The endorsement of selected influencers can have a dramatic and lasting tourism impact, writes Amanda Cropp.
Sheep stew, emus and All Blacks. That’s a sample of what a bunch of Americans came up with when market researchers asked them what they knew about New Zealand.
Not exactly an entirely accurate or flattering picture of our nation.
Which is why both Tourism New Zealand and NZ Story, government agencies charged with spruiking our reputation as a place to visit and do business, are using ‘‘key influencers’’ to improve our profile internationally.
Local, expat, and overseas celebrities and business people extolling our finer points in NZ Story videos include inventor Sir Ray Avery, former PM Helen Clark, actors Cliff Curtis and Bryce Dallas Howard, chef Peter Gordon, Tesla co-founder Ian Wright, All Birds boss Tim Brown, former Nasa scientist Delwyn Moller, tech entrepreneur Mitchell Pham, and sports stars Lydia Ko and Steven Adams.
NZ Story director Rebecca Smith says the American vox pops were a reality check.
‘‘We all believe we’re worldfamous and it’s a reminder that we’re just not, and we really have to work hard to get awareness and understanding of who we are on the world stage.’’
Smith says input from outsiders is important, otherwise ‘‘it’s a little like writing your own Trip Advisor review, it’s bound to be glowing’’.
The contributors (100 to date) are unpaid, which is in part why there are no All Blacks in the mix, but Smith says it’s also a desire to ‘‘dial up lesser-known’’ aspects of New Zealand.
There is no backdrop of breathtaking scenery; instead, participants are filmed against a white background so viewers concentrate on what they are saying. The comments are unscripted.
Testing of this storytelling approach in places like Tokyo, Shanghai, Singapore, Melbourne and Los Angeles suggests it is working.
‘‘We’re starting to see major shifts in certain cities where New Zealand is being described as creative and flexible, and marching to the beat of its own drum; that we get things done in a way other countries can’t,’’ Smith says.
NZ Story works closely with Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) and the two agencies share the talent pool, ensuring potential influencers have a prior New Zealand connection and appeal to a particular target market.
Over the past four years TNZ has spent $6.4 million on hosting and filming 10 key influencers to get across messages about where to go, what to do, and when to come.
For example, travel time from the US is seen as a barrier by many potential visitors who have New Zealand on their bucket list.
So when Dallas Howard posts on Instagram that her son is gobsmacked it took three flights to get here, but didn’t mind because he had such a great time, it helps overcome negative perceptions about our distance from the rest of the world.
Chinese celebrity chef Nicholas Tse has a high-rating cooking show, Chef Nic, that travels to international destinations.
After he approached TNZ about filming in New Zealand, the agency invested $587,000 in helping make it happen, using the show to highlight Hawke’s Bay and Taupo, two regions lesser known to Chinese considering holidaying here.
TNZ assesses the success of such campaigns by measuring media coverage and calculating the cost of buying the equivalent amount of advertising.
Vosper says that over the past four years the equivalent advertising value of the influencer programme was $140m, and the average return on investment was $16 for every $1 spent.
That said, returns varied widely, from a low of $3 for every $1 spent on film director James Cameron’s campaigns, to a high of $80 for each $1 spent on Tse.
So does social media exposure via celebrities really translate to bums on airline seats? ‘‘If we don’t market, we know our numbers drop; if we get a significant increase in holiday arrivals, we know our marketing is having an impact,’’ Vosper says.
A couple of years ago Brazilian travel show host Didi Wagner toured the country. TNZ’s PR evaluation credited her visit with helping increase Brazilian arrivals by more than 30 per cent last year.
Simon Cheung chairs the NZ Chinese Travel and Tourism Association which has about 1000 members catering for the inbound Chinese market.
He says recommendations from stars like Tse, whose TV show is very popular throughout Asia, definitely help to market New Zealand in China.
The fact that celebs don’t pay for the holidays does not dent their credibility.
Chinese actor, director, singer and model Huang Lei has more than 20 million followers on Chinese social media platform Weibo and a visit to New Zealand with his family in 2015 resulted in 1200-plus media articles.
The Marlborough Tour Company’s seafood cruise was on his itinerary and general manager Scott McKenzie says the impact was immediate and lasting.
Simon Milne, director of the NZ Tourism Research Institute at AUT, says the trust element plays a part in the impact of celebrity endorsement on social media.
‘‘In a situation like China you have a very large, rapidly growing middle and upper class who are keen to travel.
‘‘There are many who will view New Zealand as a first-time overseas experience, and even if they’ve been to Europe, it will be new and different.
‘‘If there’s someone you follow, there’s an element of trust, and a sense that this person has a role in your life. It’s a form of word-of-mouth recommendation, but on a very large scale.’’
‘‘We really have to work hard to get awareness and understanding of who we are on the world stage.’’ NZ Story director Rebecca Smith