Kiwis are being asked to supply their own photos for Tourism NZ's new marketing campaign.
Kiwis are being asked to supply their own photos for Tourism NZ's new marketing campaign.
COMMENT:
Tourism New Zealand's decision to invite Kiwis to participate in the latest iteration of the 100% Pure positioning is brave, but history shows that handing the colouring pencils to the audience doesn't always go according to plan.
"It always seems a lovely idea: we ask the consumers to interactand co-create with us," says influential marketing professor Mark Ritson.
"But most marketing departments are happy, positive brand-loving places and about as far from the real world of cynical, marketing-hating consumers as you can get."
What usually happens, argues Ritson, is that the marketing team's expectations of an influx of positive, engaged dialogue is usually met with an onslaught of "awful, negative anti-branding".
"You want a boat to be named by consumers via social media you get Boaty McBoatface. You want to co-create with consumers your new SUV called Tundra you get hundreds of ecological warnings. You ask consumers to insert messages into a soccer team's social media campaign and you get vile, filthy racist stuff."
Ritson isn't wrong. There are numerous examples of hashtags turning into bashtags as cynical consumers lay into brands for their shortcomings.
One of the most infamous examples of this was McDonald's #McDStories, which saw a series of often-hilarious stories shared at the expense of the fast-food company.
Similarly, #AskSeaWorld and #QantasLuxury have also been hi-jacked and shaped into branding fiascos that did little to improve the perceptions of the companies involved.
Tourism New Zealand chief executive Stephen England-Hall acknowledges that everything tagged with #GoodMorningWorldNZ or #100%Pure, for that matter, may not be positive.
"Anytime you invite the public to create content you open yourself up and we can't wait to see the great, the not so great and the oddball," says England-Hall.
"We'll carefully moderate content tagged with #GoodMorningWorldNZ and select the best bits to feature in the campaign."
One thing that Tourism New Zealand does retain is the power of amplification in that it can choose which posts to push harder than others. The online free-for-all doesn't necessarily mean that everything published will automatically be pushed around the world.
However, despite this level of control, social media is an unwieldy beast and it can be easy for the intended positive conversation to quickly get swamped by a flood of snarky trolling.
Tourism New Zealand will hope it doesn't become another McDonald's or Qantas as the campaign rolls out over the next year.
What was once considered a niche platform better suited to smaller brands looking to run affordable ads is starting to attract some of the biggest names in New Zealand advertising.
Henrik Isaksson, the managing director of podcast company Acast, tells the Herald that his business is currently working with the likes of Spark, Disney, Sky, Visa, Mercedes and Vodafone in New Zealand.
The movement of advertising revenue to the podcasting space provides a good hint of the growing popularity of this medium in the local market.
A recent survey conducted by Acast and Radio New Zealand revealed that a third of New Zealanders (31 per cent) consume a podcast every week, with society and literature themed content the most popular.
New Zealanders have a wide range of interests when it comes to podcasts. Image/Supplied
When compared to ongoing research conducted by Acast, the current figures show a 107 per cent increase in the past 10 months.
"The research shows New Zealand is one of the fastest-growing and actively engaged podcast markets globally," Isaksson, said. "This type of research is exactly what brands, agencies and publishers need to see in order for the industry to see further growth."
With 83 per cent of New Zealanders tuning into a traditional radio station on a weekly basis according to the latest Gfk national survey, the old guard remains in good shape and far bigger than the new digital kid on the block.
However, many local media companies are taking note of the growing appreciation of podcasts and are investing money into this space.
NZME, for instance, currently runs a number of pure-play podcasts, including the Front Page and business-themed series Cooking the Books, hosted by Frances Cook, as well as the weekly musings of Leighton Smith.
The challenge with podcasting, however, is that it is hellishly competitive, pitting local talent against the well-oiled international machines that have been dabbling in the space for years.
As the medium evolves and becomes more popular, this competition will only increase – and the pressure will be on Kiwi providers to ensure they're the name smartphone users select among the endless list of options.
