Lake Erskine, near Milford Sound, is among the Southern
locations promoted in the new 100% Middle-earth, 100% Pure
New Zealand campaign by Tourism New Zealand, which has been
viewed online more than half a million times. Photo
supplied.
Advertisements featuring Queenstown and Southern Lakes
beauty spots which star in an international
Hobbit
inspired promotion for New Zealand, have been watched more than
500,000 times and counting.
Tourism New Zealand's "100% Middle-earth, 100% Pure New
Zealand" advertisement reached the milestone this week,
despite much of the core campaign work still to begin in
off-shore markets.
The advertisement was launched on newzealand.com on August
23, while the first television campaign work began in
Australia three days later.
Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism John Key heralded the
Japanese market version of the advertisement at a tourism
function at the New Zealand Embassy in Tokyo on Tuesday.
The campaign includes a Japanese voice-over of the original
commercial and translated campaign pages on
newzealand.com/jp.
The advertisement will also be translated into German and
Chinese for in-market campaigns.
Tourism New Zealand chief executive Kevin Bowler said this
week the number of plays of the advertisement was "a
fantastic start, given that campaign work will continue to
roll out across markets through to the first week of October
promoting even more viewership".
"The full strength of our 100% Middle-earth marketing will
not be felt until the end of November, when the campaign has
rolled out across all our markets and we build up toward the
world premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in
Wellington."
Mr Bowler said the objective of all Tourism New Zealand
marketing work was to compel people already interested in a
New Zealand holiday, to make the decision to go.
"The advertisement illustrates that much of what people see
in the Hobbit films is actually a real place just
waiting to be explored.
"Not only that, but you can have some amazing adventures and
experiences within our movie-like landscapes."
The landscapes of Queenstown, Glenorchy, Wanaka and Milford
Sound form the bulk of the two-minute commercial.
Paradise, near Glenorchy, plus Strath Taieri, Central Otago,
Treble Cone, and the Earnslaw Burn were among the New Zealand
locations used by film-makers last year.
Tourism New Zealand anticipated any region or business with a
connection to the locations of The Hobbit trilogy was
likely to see an increase of visitors seeking a Middle-earth
experience.
A name, residential address, and (preferably residential) telephone number is required from readers who comment on ODT Online. These details will not be visible to site visitors.