Tourism Australia releases hilarious sequel to ‘Dundee’ campaign

Tourism Australia has launched a hilarious sequel to their booming ‘Dundee’ campaign with yet another familiar face promoting Australia to the world.  

Luke Hemsworth, the older brother of Aussie actors Chris and Liam Hemsworth, is the new face of the cleverly pitched tourism ad that encourages Americans to book a trip Down Under.

In the ad, the Aussie actor says he’ll take US travellers on an exclusive behind the scenes tour of the Dundee movie backlot – which links back to the first phase of the campaign.

The Dundee campaign began in February with the release of the first ad, which was cleverly shot as a trailer for fake movie ‘Dundee: The Son of a Legend Returns Home’. It was shown to over 100 million TV viewers on the biggest night of the year for Americans, The Super Bowl.

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Along with Chris Hemsworth, the first phase of the campaign saw Margot Robbie, Paul Hogan, Liam Hemsworth, Russell Crowe, Jessica Mauboy and even Hugh Jackman take part in several hilarious skits.

The latest phase of the award winning campaign focuses on the ‘original’ Hemsworth brother inviting Americans on a backlot tour of Australia. As he travels around several picturesque lands the actor questions how they “make it look so real.”

By staging the stunning lands of Australia as a massive movie set for the fake film, the ad is able to show off jaw-dropping natural scenery in a classically Aussie, tongue in cheek fashion.

A particular aspect of each of Australia’s states and territories get a mention throughout the ad including Vivid in Sydney Harbour, the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, the Great Ocean Road in Victoria and Cottesloe Beach in Western Australia.  

The $8 million campaign has already been an incredible success for Tourism Australia as it’s reached nine billion people and generated nearly 14,500 news articles with an equivalent advertising value of over $85 million.

Australia’s Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham explained why there is such a specific focus on American tourists saying: “The US is one of Australia’s largest and most valuable tourism markets with over 780,000 American visitors spending $3.8 billion per year in Australia. Whilst Americans love Australia the challenge for us is to convert interest into action and get potential visitors on a plane headed Down Under.”

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The star of the second ad, Luke Hemsworth, said he got a kick out of watching the first phase of the campaign adding: “I can’t think of a more beautiful film set than Australia and it’s pretty special to be selected as Tourism Australia’s own tour guide to show Americans why they need to make the trip down under and make it right now.”

The successful campaign has been incredibly well received worldwide and will continue to run until December this year to coincide with peak travel booking season for the US market.