| How to do tourism campaigns |
[28 August 2008|11:40 pm] |
Sometimes, my mother and I come up with the most random stuff in our telephone calls. Today? A general principle for effective tourism campaigns. Basically, it was inspired by a Chaser skit with alternatives to the "where the bloody hell are ya?" slogan, such as "fuck, Australia's fucking great, so where the fuck are you, motherfucker?" The principle: piss people off.
Imagine if the "fuck, Australia's fucking great" slogan were genuinely used in the US, for instance. The right-wing fundie mob would be mortified. They'd be throwing hissy fits online, they'd be phoning Rush Limbaugh, they'd be writing outraged letters to newspapers and the Australian embassy, so on and so forth. "Those awful sinners and their cussin'!" What they most certainly will not be doing is visiting Australia. It'll be all boycotts, discarded Crocodile Hunter DVDs, no more dinners at the Outback Steakhouse, and absolutely no trips Down Under. To which I say "fantastic!" Meanwhile, the accompanying furore in the media will give Australia publicity and exposure it simply could not get with some bland "koalas and kangaroos" tourism campaign. Anybody with a sense of humour, i.e. tourists we actually want, will be snapping up airfares to Australia!
So if you're running a tourist campaign, piss people off! All the uptight, humourless prats who you'd rather not visit will intentionally avoid you, while the cool people who enjoy a good laugh will come in droves. You'll thank Mum and I later when you're having a drink with some awesome visitors and laughing at their hilarious stories about miserable sods in their homeland. |
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[16 January 2008|10:07 pm] |
Well, here I am back on the Gold Coast. The 2.5 weeks back home shot by rather quickly. I'm only staying here for my birthday tomorrow, and then flying over to Wellington on the 18th. On the 20th, we're making a day trip down to Nelson to see my Grandpa. I spoke to Grandma last weekend and things were not very encouraging, as illustrated by the fact Grandpa was not in a position to talk to me on the phone. I know that as recently as Christmas Eve, he was out pottering in the garden with my father, but things seem spectacularly unpleasant at the moment. I'm worried about the condition I'll find him in come Sunday, but I can't wait to see him. I wish I could stay longer, but he will be very tired and even with the day we're down there, we likely won't be able to spend all of it with him. Hopefully we'll get lots of quality time though - quality over quantity, eh? So we'll be doing that, and then the next morning I will be flying home to Melbourne at some ridiculous time in the morning. The time I will need to get up on Monday morning in New Zealand will be roughly the time I've been going to bed in Melbourne lately. And the timezone difference is just two hours! I'm almost tempted to just stay up all night and sleep on the plane.
I must admit that I won't miss the day that I no longer have to visit Queensland. Yes, it's my usual complaints - too hot, no daylight saving, poorly planned, no trams, etc. I'm really looking forward to going to New Zealand though, even if it's a brief visit. Having my own camera is exceptionally handy. Yes, I suppose it'll be more picture entries when I get home. Hopefully they will be interesting.
Anyway, that's really about it for me. Hope you're all having a good one. |
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[6 April 2006|05:42 pm] |
I have been slack with updating my LiveJournal lately, haven't I? Well, that slackness is going to last a few more days at least! Tomorrow, I'm heading off to New Zealand, though only for a brief trip. By 'brief', I mean that I leave after breakfast on Friday and return in time for dinner on Sunday. It's definitely going to be a whirlwind trip, but I'm actually going to end up seeing more of my family than I've seen on most of my previous trips back home by virtue of the fact that I'm going over for my father's fiftieth birthday party. It's also going to be great to see home - I haven't been in New Zealand since April 2003. ANZAC Day was going to be the "I've been out of New Zealand for three full years" mark. As my flight is from the Gold Coast, not Brisbane, I'm heading back down that way to stay with family overnight so that it's easier to get to the airport.
One thing I'm not looking forward to is the lack of music! I'll miss the library of music I have on my computer. You can only take so many CDs. I rarely wish that I had an iPod or similar MP3 player, but now is one of those times!
Also, I just realised that I've accidentaly let my paid LJ account lapse. Well, that will teach me for not paying attention. I got the "paid account expiring" e-mails and kept thinking "oh, but I can do it tomorrow, it's not something I must do tonight!" Ooops. I guess I'll have to re-subscribe once I get home.
In any case, I better go, I have packing to complete and dinner to eat. Have a nice weekend, folks! |
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