Let’s be real for a second. Expectation versus reality… it’s why most holidays don’t live up to the hype. But not today...

Forget the staged holiday. Forget the filters and the glossy ads.?

Townsville North Queensland is a destination where you can put REAL into your unreal holiday.?
And instead of telling you what it’s like… We’d rather show you.?

Our latest campaign is all about increasing awareness of the destination and cut through the clutter of 'difference' by showcasing the real moments and lived experiences of travellers to Townsville North Queensland. Featuring the recognisable face of TV personality - Scott Hillier (from Channel 7's Creek to Coast) - this campaign will be the region's BIGGEST tourism campaign ever delivered:

  • $7.2M in media value
  • 7 conversion partners
  • Reaching over 30M people nation-wide
  • 12 months of dedicated activity

  1. Heads on Beds: focus on ROI and conversion, while dually building on awareness metrics. Focus on tourism leisure audiences. ?
  2. Beyond the Peak: strategically use tactical campaigns to build and boost shoulder and low seasons helping to improve tourism operator and business viability. ?
  3. Matched to make impact: at least doubling the funding we have through partnerships and industry collaboration. ?
  4. Market Smart: alignment to Tourism and Events Queensland campaign activity, leveraging their database and audiences and avoiding (where possible) clashing with other regional campaigns. ?
  5. Unexpectedly Everywhere: using marketing channels that have proven results and breaking through the "sea of sameness" by using bold, unexpected or new-to-market media channels.
  1. The power of AI: from virtual travel planners to deep-fake images, changing the way people are planning, how they are viewing content and confusing reality and expectation. ?
  2. The simple things in life: in the chaos that is life, travellers are demanding honesty– they want transparency, trust and authenticity. ?
  3. Untapped destination discovery: travellers are opting for the lesser-known destinations – less touristy but rich in charm. ?
  4. Influencer led: influencer curated and recommended trips are driving bookings and conversions. TikTok and Instagram continue to reshape travel marketing. ?
  5. It's all in the targeting: people expect marketing that resonates. Marketing that is fuelled by consumer insights and flexible to the trends of the day.?
  6. Sea of Sameness (but different): cluttered tourism market claiming 'new and different' experiences’ but not living up the hype.?
  7. Cost of living: general pressures on expenses and balancing this peak desire to still have valuable travel experiences.

Key objectives:

  • Achieve KPI targets on pax conversions across trade and airline partnerships.
  • Increase awareness of Townsville North Queensland as a holiday destination. Benchmarked against pre- and post-brand uplift studies, and competitor analysis (within Queensland).
  • Achieve growth in operator listings on townsvillenorthqueensland.com.au as a lead generation mechanic.
  • Accelerate consumers through the conversion funnel, focusing primarily on awareness and consideration, but enabling conversion through bookable products and a trade distribution plan.

High value travellers seeking adventure, willing to try something new and explore off the beaten track. They don’t ‘fly and flop’, they want to be immersed in the authenticity of a place. They are naturally curious with an open heart and mind to explore.

As identified in the recent brand research, the target audience most attuned to visiting Townsville North Queensland, is the Curious Explorer market. This audience has been defined using sophisticated targeting data through Roy Morgan Helix Personas, split into SUSTAIN and GROWTH markets and further grouped using the following targeting techniques:

Geographically:

  • [SUSTAIN + GROWTH] Queenslanders (Regional Drive Market [Cairns-Mackay], South-East Queensland – Brisbane, Gold Coast, Toowoomba, Sunshine Coast, Rockhampton)
  • [GROWTH] Sydney and surrounds, New South Wales
  • [GROWTH] Melbourne and surrounds, Victoria
  • [GROWTH] Adelaide, South Australia

Traveller type:

  • [GROWTH] Leisure + Event Traveller
  • [GROWTH] Business + Working Holidaymaker
  • [SUSTAIN] Visiting Friends and Relatives 

Lifestyle stage: (across both SUSTAIN and GROWTH segments)

  • Couples
  • Families
  • Solo

Persona type:

To define our segments further, we've identified key Helix Persona Communities and Personas which help to understand a consumer by their values, average income, media preferences and more.

Since launching the brand in 2023, our audiences have grown and engagement has increased. This, coupled with our media agencies exclusive data access to Tourism and Events Queensland retargeting audiences, our audience is primed and ready to convert.

  • Website: 474K active users; 1.16M page views
  • Social media: Over 84K followers; 14.7M reach
  • Owned data: Over 18K subscribers; 30% open rate on EDMs
  • Queensland.com (Townsville North Queensland landing page): 315K engaged audience every 30 days

This activity has been jointly funded by the Australian and Queensland Governments under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

Media and trade partners

We're working with leaders in the industry to help share our story to an extended audience across Australia.

Airline partner

For this first time, we have partnered up with Qantas and Qantas Hotels to offer deliver 12 months of trade and airline activity. This also includes features in their dedicated publication - Travel Insider.

Read article one

Read article two

VIEW

Airline partner

Delivering a bespoke campaign creative platform, this partnership with Jetstar is a full 12 month calendar of awareness and tactical sales aimed at driving significant pax through the Townsville terminal. 

Launching soon!

Trade partner

A major burst of tactical sale activity aimed at driving bookings for operators across accommodation and tours, Expedia will run a dedicated sales campaign through the last half of 2025.

VIEW

Trade partner

Another 12 month partnership delivering awareness and tactical sales campaigns aimed at driving bookings for operators across accommodation and tours.

Launching soon!

Content partnerships

Get involved

Share the Unexpected with your audience by downloading campaign assets and sharing them across your accounts. This could be the campaign assets themselves, or finding ways to showcase your business' offer in a more personalised way. Here are some resources you're welcome to use:

DOWNLOAD ASSETS

OPERATOR TOOLKIT

BRAND GUIDELINES

COOPERATIVE PAID MARKETING