Home > Publications > Sectorwide > August 2009 > Queensland Tourism's best ever ad (cover story)

Ben Southall phones home with the news that he's won the Best Job in the World.

Tourism Queensland CEO Anthony Hayes hands Ben Southall the keys to the caretaker's residence on Hamilton Island.

‘Best Job in the World’ named best advertising in the world

Queensland's Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, hides a beautiful secret - its islands. Tourism Queensland (TQ) wanted to tell the world so with the help of Cummins Nitro agency it devised a cunning plan - The Best Job in the World.

The huge promotional campaign was really a competition in the form of a job vacancy. Advertisements went out world-wide, asking applicants to upload a video telling why they should be given the job of island caretaker. The prize - six months living on Hamilton Island, exploring, snorkelling, blogging and promoting Queensland, with a salary of $150,000.

The Best Job in the World attracted 34,500 entries from over 200 countries.

A short list of 50 best entries was whittled down to 16 finalists, with Ben Southall from Hampshire in the UK winning the job.

‘Ben's such a positive, passionate kind of a guy. He's exactly what we want to represent Queensland,’ TQ's Chief Executive Officer Anthony Hayes said.

‘Ben's in his mid 30s, so he's got a bit of maturity about him. He appreciates both sides of the job. He's there to have a great time, but he also understands the promotional aspects of the job and why it's important to the Queensland tourism industry that he gets it right.’

For a total budget of $2.5 million TQ has raked in over $200 million dollars worth of publicity.

TQ and Cummins Nitro won a host of awards for their promotion, including eight awards at the recent Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.

‘I think that Queensland now owns the word "best" and we're going to focus on the word "best" for a while,’ Anthony said.

He wouldn't give away the next big idea, but he admitted ‘we've got one!’

Tourism Queensland (external site)
Ben's Best Job in the World blog (external site)
Follow Ben on Twitter (external site)

Best Job in the World's list of awards

Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival

Grand Prix - PR
Grand Prix - Direct Marketing
Grand Prix - Cyber
Media Gold Lion - Travel, Entertainment & Leisure
PR Lion - Travel, tourism and leisure
PR Lion - Best use of Internet, Digital Media & Social Media
Direct Marketing Gold Lion - Travel, entertainment & leisure
Direct Marketing Gold Lion - Traffic building

One Show Awards

Best of Show

IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) Awards

Best of Show
Brand Awareness & Positioning

2009 Gourmet Traveller Awards

Best Tourism Innovator

News flash

Best Job in the World finalist Mieko Kobayashi has been named Queensland tourism ambassador to Japan.

Mieko (pictured) has a cult-like following in Japan and will use her new status to wave the Queensland flag at trade shows and PR events to lure Japanese tourists to Queensland.

Photos: Tourism Queensland

August 2009