Great travel marketing campaigns linger in your mind, just waiting to pounce when you’re keen to take a break. And now, alongside Australia’s gargantuan “Where the bloody hell are you?”, New Zealand’s long debated “100% Pure” and the weird TV ear-worm that is “Malaysia, Truly Asia” there’s a new kid in town – Waiheke: A world apart, not a world away.

The digital, outdoor and print campaign kicked off this week as a way to bring tourism back to an island where businesses have been ravaged financially by lockdown restrictions.

Digital billboards in prime locations across Auckland – think Newmarket and Sylvia Park – feature great images of Waiheke next to clever captions such as “coastal distancing”, which play on what’s attractive about the island combined with a language we’ve learnt from the global response to the pandemic.

But what’s most impressive about the campaign is how it has come together thanks to a collaborative approach from tourism, advertising, marketing and business leaders on the island.

The campaign was spearheaded by Christina Hyde and Kelly Addis of the Waiheke Island Tourism Forum and has featured a mix of local talent and help from a wide and varied group of their contacts. James Belfield

Full story in this week’s Gulf News… Out Now!!!

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