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Who on earth wouldn’t want to get paid $150K to live in a multi-million-dollar beachfront villa on a stunning tropical island, in heart of the spectacular Whitsunday Islands? With daily tasks including swimming with turtles, scuba diving the famed Great Barrier Reef, sampling new luxury spa treatments and exploring neighbouring islands, it certainly is The Best Job in the World.

Tourism Queensland has done some incredibly smart marketing with this, their latest campaign. Launched in early January, their search for an ‘Island Caretaker’ on idyllic Hamilton Island has achieved an extraordinary amount of international exposure, spreading prolifically via email, word of mouth, blogs, social media sites and media coverage the world over.

With anyone, anywhere in the world, able to apply for the six-month stint, the vacancy for the dream role instantly went viral. Applicants were asked to submit short, entertaining and engaging videos explaining why they’re the best personality for the role and how they will convey the beauty of the region to the world. Not surprisingly, this resulted in a flood of submissions, so many that on numerous occasions the website crashed, further fueling the frenzy.

Thousands of entries have poured in including many outstanding and clever creations, and of course the odd spoof. There was even the story of a woman named Tegan, who tattooed a permanent advertisement of the Great Barrier Reef on her arm. This turned out to be the crafty work of Tourism Queensland’s advertising agency however.

Among the competition are some serious contenders, including TV hosts, documentary and film makers, deep sea divers, marine scientists, adrenalin junkies and even contestants from the Amazing Race.

Applications for the coveted role closed this morning but the hype is far from over. Tourism Queensland still has the marathon task of viewing thousands of videos before selecting the top 50, to be announced March 3rd. The successful candidate will then be chosen from a shortlist of 11 finalists (including a public wild card vote), all flown to Queensland for an intensive interview process.

So just how successful has this campaign been so far?

• The ‘Island Reed Job’ attracted a total 34,684 applicants, well over what was expected. A late rush over the weekend brought in over 7,500 hopefuls and at one point there were around 4,000 people trying to upload their videos at the same time.
• Applications poured in from over 200 countries – the only countries that didn’t submit a video were Western Sahara and North Korea. The most interest came from the U.S (11,500), Canada (2,700) and the Great Britain (2,200).
• Traffic to the Island Reef Job site increased 25-fold in the campaign’s first week. The site received a reported 2.3 million visits during the application period.
• Traffic to the Tourism Queensland site reportedly trebled soon after the campaign launch.
• It is believed approximately $80 million worth of publicity was generated. Some candidates even created their own media coverage in their home countries and sent them in with their videos.
• Numerous websites, blogs and social media profiles have been created specifically for it, all providing links back to the site (great for SEO!)
• At the time of this post, Google reports 43,000 pages when searching for “island reef job” and 93,900 for “www.islandreefjob.com”. Google Blogs reports 4,845 blogs linking to “www.islandreefjob.com” and Google Videos returns 27,500 videos for “best job in the world” and 17,500 for “island reef job”.
• Forty-five Facebook Groups have been set up for “Island Reef Job” and over 500 for “Best Job in the World”. Many even dedicated their profile pages to the cause.
• Over 1,390 results were returned in MySpace for “islandreefjob” and 12,500 for “best job in the world”.
• Their YouTube Channel has had over 66,000 channel views and 3,667 videos watched so far.
• There were countless Twitter mentions and the hashtags “#islandreefjob” and ”#bestjob” were set up to track the conversation.
• They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and so the numerous copycat campaigns are a testament to its success.

And why has the campaign been so successful?

• Tourism Queensland have tapped in to a universal desire. Everyone dreams of getting away from it all, basking in the sun on a peaceful tropical island.
• It couldn’t have come at a better time. Given the current global economic state and increasing redundancies, along with the bleak winter conditions the northern hemisphere has endured, an escape to paradise is extremely appealing right now.
• The concept ‘The Best Job in the World’ with its amazing ‘work’ conditions, free accommodation, free flights and fun responsibilities, is a winner. The substantial paycheck for just 6 months ‘work’ feels more like winning the lottery. It is basically an extended, all-expense-paid holiday with a $150K cherry on top.
• Its ease of entry. Anyone, anywhere in the world, with minimal experience was able to apply. The website can be viewed in multiple languages.
• Applicants were required to show their knowledge of the Whitsundays and Great Barrier Reef, ensuring the thousands of unsuccessful candidates are now familiar with the destination and holiday packages available.
• The website is well designed, interactive and has stunning imagery and information to lure people in, not just as applicants, but as potential tourists.
• The interactive and social aspect of the site and the campaign involves the public at large. Every application can be viewed and rated online, which is both fun and
  addictive. And a public ‘wild card vote’ next month will determine the 11th finalist.
• An incredibly effective social media campaign was utilised, incorporating MySpace, a Facebook page, a YouTube Channel and a Twitter profile. These answered any queries anyone had, while building relationships and further promoting the Tourism Queensland brand.
• The winner will essentially be selling the region to the world, ensuring on-going exposure and coverage for Tourism Queensland over the next 6 months.

The Hamilton Island Caretaker will be announced on May 6th and is due to start ‘work’ in July. They’ll be required to keep a weekly blog, video diary and photo gallery of their adventures while they swim, snorkel and explore white sand beaches…it’s a tough job, but someone has to do it!

Annemarie Hunter – Search Marketing Specialist

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