Comments on: The Island Reef Job: How Many Videos Did You Submit?

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:38:01 +0000

Hey Jacques,
Time will tell if your opinion is correct. Personally, I’m of the opinion that this was a well-executed marketing plan, and not a rigged contest, as you’re suggesting in your comment. In order for your theory to be proven true, David Hill will have to become the individual chosen by Tourism Queensland, and we’ll know for sure when the contestant is chosen, though even if it is David Hill, I still see no concrete evidence in what you’ve shared here that this was a rigged contest.
If you have something else to share, please feel free to reply via comments on our web site.
Warmest,
Jonathan

By: Jacques D

Jacques D — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 05:36:17 +0000

Best Hoax of 2009
Most of the English speaking world has heard about the “Island reef Job” or “The Best Job in the World” contest run by Tourism Queensland in Australia. The promotion has been heralded as one of the greatest marketing phenomenon ever and initially appeared so.
Well it is more than a well crafted promotion. It is a HOAX.
The winner was already determined before the contest even opened. David Whitehill and his agency Creative Representation are in league with Tourism Queensland and Cummins Nitro in designing this hoax. It was loosely based on the current crop of reality shows currently on TV. Sort of a survivor / big brother blend except the winner was already decided before Christmas in 2008!
Unfortunately for them the contest side of the promotion grew out of control when the world media ran with the initial story. Thousands of media outlets and tens of thousands unsuspecting applicants inundated the poorly designed TQ operation. Some folks have spent significant resources providing video (estimate $30 – 20 million in total) and media outlets have to this date (March 4, 2009) provided ($80 million) in free publicity! “For a $US1.8 million ($NZ3.6 million) campaign we have received nearly $US80 million in publicity,” said Ms Boyle (State of Queensland Minister of Tourism).
The applicants who put their heart and soul into this hoax are very angry about this revelation. The millions of viewers are disappointed. The media outlets have expressed disbelief as to their gullibility.
After viewing the top50 and looking up David Hill’s cult status in Queensland the hoax becomes obvious. David is miles ahead of the selected top50 applications. That and the obvious bias for less than 30 years of age crowd were also given away to the selection process plan. A few of the top50 videos were over the 60 second rule that caused some applicants so much grief. One top50 video from China didn’t even have any spoken English. The real big clue to the hoax was that the final winner is ultimately to be decided by Tourism Queensland. This will allow for David Hill to be given the work and use it as a launching pad for his acting career.
The Queensland people will accept this much better now that a local boy is keeping the cash in the area.
“There were rumours of a hoax from the beginning.” Michael Branagh, boss of Cummins Nitro’s Brisbane office said he was delighted with the success of the project which had generated huge amounts of worldwide publicity. He said the video was put on the site to “seed” it and AAP had only itself to blame for being fooled. He said: “Bad luck to them. They should have known better.”

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:27:40 +0000

Hey Scott!
I saw your video earlier today and loved it. Well done!
I think the primary point of contact for actually communicating with Queensland was/is their Twitter page…
http://twitter.com/Queensland
As far as the spoofs, I would have LOVED to have seen them. But at the same time, I think you were better off doing what you did. The presentation came across clean, professional, and also did a good job of showing what you bring to the table.
Where did your 14k+ views come from? Mostly from a list or…? Just curious to see what marketing tactics/strategies other people have used.
I love the statement “I have a crap upload speed from my semi-crap ISP.”
I don’t know why I think that’s funny, but it makes me laugh to say it out loud.
Much success to you as well! Hopefully we’ll get to meet on Hamilton Island. Regardless, you’re welcome to come and visit us in beautiful Colorado…
Warmest,
Jonathan

By: scott kimler

scott kimler — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:45:48 +0000

Jonathan & Carrie – Interesting approach.
I did give some thought to submitting multiple videos, but I was thinking more of doing comedic spoofs on some of what I thought were bad ones (e.g., too busy guy using camera phone and doing unrehearsed speech whilst shaving).
In the end, I decided to put all my eggs in a single 60-second basket.
However, I did submit it 3 times. (After 5 days of waiting, I began to worry that the upload didn’t “take” … as I have a crap upload speed from my semi-crap ISP … took 40+ minutes).
I did however, email Tourism Queensland, after the 1st video finally landed on the site, saying they could delete the other two. (Dunno if they ever did).
That’s my story and I’m sticking too it!
Good luck, eh?